bdnews24.com :
Police have charged columnist Farhad Mazhar and his wife Farida Akhter with starting a case by providing false information. Court clears police to start case against columnist Farhad Mazhar’s wife over false abduction report Detective Branch of Police Inspector Mahbubul Islam sent the papers of the ‘non-FIR prosecution case’ to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka on Thursday afternoon through the court’s non-general recording section of Adabar area.
Non-GR section General Recording Officer Alam Mia told bdnews24.com they would present the case in court on Sunday. A staunch government critic, Farhad was found on a bus in Jessore while travelling from Khulna to Dhaka, 18 hours after he went missing from the capital on July 3.
His family alleged in a police complaint, which was later recorded as a case, that he was abducted after he had left home early in that morning.
On Nov 14, investigators filed their report to the court, where they said no truth was found in the claim that the columnist had been abducted and sought permission to prosecute the columnist’s wife for filing a false report.
The final investigation report says the case initiated by Farida is fabricated and it was done in bid to cover up the actual events. On Dec 7, a Dhaka metropolitan magistrate held a hearing over the probe report and accepted the police’s plea to start a case against the couple. They will be sentenced to maximum seven years in jail and also fined if found guilty in the trial. In reaction to the case against the couple, Syed Zainul Abedin Mezbah, the lawyer for Farhad, told bdnews24.com on Thursday evening that the court had earlier accepted their plea seeking time to submit an objection to the investigation report.
“But the order changed in the afternoon the same day. A metropolitan magistrate accepted the investigation report without informing us about it,” he said.
The couple were set to file at the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court of Dhaka a petition seeking a review of the court order giving police permission to charge them in the beginning of January when the court reconvenes after the holiday break. But police have started the case against them now. Mezbah said the charges brought under the prosecution case are bailable. “But the practice in such case is to send summons to the accused. Let’s see when the summonses come,” he added. After the police got the clearance to charge them, Farhad said at a news briefing that he had been ‘abducted’ in a ‘move of enforced disappearance’. He also alleged the law enforcers ‘forced him to give a statement they had provided’.
Police have charged columnist Farhad Mazhar and his wife Farida Akhter with starting a case by providing false information. Court clears police to start case against columnist Farhad Mazhar’s wife over false abduction report Detective Branch of Police Inspector Mahbubul Islam sent the papers of the ‘non-FIR prosecution case’ to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka on Thursday afternoon through the court’s non-general recording section of Adabar area.
Non-GR section General Recording Officer Alam Mia told bdnews24.com they would present the case in court on Sunday. A staunch government critic, Farhad was found on a bus in Jessore while travelling from Khulna to Dhaka, 18 hours after he went missing from the capital on July 3.
His family alleged in a police complaint, which was later recorded as a case, that he was abducted after he had left home early in that morning.
On Nov 14, investigators filed their report to the court, where they said no truth was found in the claim that the columnist had been abducted and sought permission to prosecute the columnist’s wife for filing a false report.
The final investigation report says the case initiated by Farida is fabricated and it was done in bid to cover up the actual events. On Dec 7, a Dhaka metropolitan magistrate held a hearing over the probe report and accepted the police’s plea to start a case against the couple. They will be sentenced to maximum seven years in jail and also fined if found guilty in the trial. In reaction to the case against the couple, Syed Zainul Abedin Mezbah, the lawyer for Farhad, told bdnews24.com on Thursday evening that the court had earlier accepted their plea seeking time to submit an objection to the investigation report.
“But the order changed in the afternoon the same day. A metropolitan magistrate accepted the investigation report without informing us about it,” he said.
The couple were set to file at the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court of Dhaka a petition seeking a review of the court order giving police permission to charge them in the beginning of January when the court reconvenes after the holiday break. But police have started the case against them now. Mezbah said the charges brought under the prosecution case are bailable. “But the practice in such case is to send summons to the accused. Let’s see when the summonses come,” he added. After the police got the clearance to charge them, Farhad said at a news briefing that he had been ‘abducted’ in a ‘move of enforced disappearance’. He also alleged the law enforcers ‘forced him to give a statement they had provided’.
