Entertainment Desk :Shahriar Islam Shawon, accused in a libel suit filed by Mahiya Mahi, has claimed he and the film actress were already married before her recent marriage to another person.Shawon’s lawyer Belal Hossain has told a Dhaka court, “Mahi and Shawon had married earlier. But Mahi has married another person, while her previous marriage remains intact.” Shawon was produced before the court on Tuesday after being interrogated in police custody for two days. He was arrested on May 28 . Hossain has also submitted in court Mahi and Shawon’s ‘marriage contract’, court police’s General Recording Officer Sub-Inspector Ujir Ali told journalists. The lawyer sought Shawon’s bail, while police wanted another seven days to question him. But Magistrate Majharul Islam rejected both pleas and ordered Shawon to jail, said court police’s prosecution wing Assistant Commissioner Mirashuddin.Mahi, whose real name is Sharmin Akter Nipa, filed the case against her ‘friend’ Shawon at the Uttara West Police Station over defamation charges on May 27, two days after her marriage with Sylhet businessman Parvez Ahmed Opu.But it falls under the jurisdiction of the ICT Act as she started the case under the Act’s Section 57 (2).The maximum penalty under this section is 14 years in prison and fine up to Tk 10 million.The actress alleged some of her photos, showing her in a close relationship with Shawon, had been released by him and his friends to some ‘online news portals’ and on Facebook to ‘defame her and break her marriage’.
