Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Monday granted anticipatory bail to Prothom Alo Editor and publisher Matiur Rahman for four weeks in the case filed in connection with the death of Residential Model College ninth-grader Naimul Abrar Rahat.
The court ordered Matiur Rahman to surrender in the trial court after this time. The trial court is also asked to consider his bail in the case as the charge brought against him is bailable.
The court ordered the law enforcing agencies not to arrest or harass the other five accused, Prothom Alo’s associate editor Anisul Hoque, Kabir Bakul, Shubashis Pramanik, Mohitul Alam and Shah Poran Tushar, till framing the charge in the case.
The HC Bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice AKM Zahirul Huq passed the order after hearing on their bail petitions.
Barrister M Amir-ul Islam and advocate Sumaya Aziz appeared in the court on behalf the accused, while additional attorney general Momtaz Uddin Fakir stood for the State.
Naimul Abrar Rahat, a ninth-grader of Residential Model College, was electrocuted and fell unconscious when he was enjoying a show during the anniversary celebration of the youth magazine Kishore Alo at the residential Model College around 3:30 pm on November 1, 2019.
Doctors of the Universal Hospital declared Naimul dead at 4:51 pm.
On November 6, 2019, Naimul’s father Md Mojibur Rahman filed a case with a Dhaka court alleging that his son died due to ‘negligence’ of the Kishore Alo authorities.
On January 16, 2020, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka Md Kaisarul Islam issued the arrest warrant against 10 persons, including Prothom Alo’s Editor and publisher Matiur Rahman, in the case.
Among the 10 accused, six filed appeal petition with the High Court, said Barrister M Amir-ul Islam. The warrant list included four other accused, Jasim Uddin, Mosharraf Hossain, Md Sujan and Kamrul Howlader.
