Specail Correspondent :
In the wake of widespread criticism, the defamation case filed by a suspended Awami League leader against Barguna Upazila Nirbahi Officer Gazi Tarque Salman was quashed on Sunday by the relevant Barisal court.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Amit Kumar passed the quash order after hearing on a petition filed by plaintiff seeking cancellation of the case proceedings.
The case was filed by Obaidullah Saju for publishing a “distorted” painting of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the invitation card issued on the occasion of Independence Day last year.
AL man Saju in his petition said that after filing the case he had realised Bangabandhu’s painting was “not distorted”. He also told the CMM court in the petition that he wasn’t at all aware that the painting was drawn by a child.
UNO Salmon, however, was not present during the hearing. Additional Divisional Commissioner of Barisal Md Nurul Amin yesterday said, “The date of hearing was fixed on Sunday. Prior to that, a petition was submitted to the CMM court to quash the case on behalf of the UNO. On the other hand, the plaintiff Obaidullah Saju also gave another prayer seeking withdrawal of the case. In this context, the court dismissed the case.”
The case was filed against the UNO in a wrongful way, the Additional Divisional Commissioner further said.
Interestingly, the plaintiff of the case Saju who earlier tried his best not to step aside from his stance made a reverse turn yesterday saying that he had filed case willingly and gave another petition to withdraw the case in the same way.
“I had no knowledge that the painting of Bangabandhu was drawn by a class-V student Adrita Kar. So, I gave a prayer when the accused person [UNO] submitted actual portrait to the court. I think, this situation has been created due to misunderstanding,” advocate Saju said.
In another move, six policemen who were on duty on the court premises, when UNO was sent to jail in a defamation case, were withdrawn to the District Police Lines yesterday by Barisal Metropolitan Police [BMP].
Assistant Police Commissioner of BMP Nasir Uddin Mallick said, “The policemen are Sub-Inspector Nripen Das, Assistant Sub-Inspectors Sachin, and Mahabub, and Constables Jahangir, Hanif and Sujan. The six police personnel were closed for administrative reasons.”
Meanwhile, the ruling Awami league government has fallen in an embarrassing situation following a Tk 5 crore defamation case against an UNO by an overenthusiastic party leader for printing Bangabandhu’s portrait on the Independence Day invitation card.
Although the Awami League central committee suspended the plaintiff of the case Obaidullah Saju, Religious Affairs Secretary of Barisal district and also Barisal Bar Council, the party high-command believes that it was a ‘conspiracy’ to create an awkward situation for the government.
Already the Bangladesh Administrative Service Association and Bangladesh Police Service Association have given opposing statements over the “arrest” and “handcuff” of the UNO. Seeing this, the government also thinks that the conspirators had tried to create an abnormal situation among the cadre service officials.
“We think, the incident was created in a planned way. The harassment of UNO is not acceptable to the government by any means. There are no partisan affairs. We’ll [govt] face it,” LGRD Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said yesterday.
The Minister said: “Someone has committed a misdeed. The accused will face trial. The Prime Minister has taken firm decision in this regard. The government is also investigating whether any person or quarter has fuelled it from behind the scene. None will be spared if there is any evidence.”
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also Bangabandhu’s eldest daughter had expressed severe astonishment over the incident and said that the portrait, painted by Class-V student Adrita Kar, was not ‘distorted’.
“The UNO has done a good job arranging a competition over Bangabandhu’s sketch and printing the award-winning picture in the cards,” PM’s adviser HT Imam told the media quoting Sheikh Hasina.
Adrita Kar, 11, a Class-V student of Srimoti Matree Mongal Girls’ School at Agailjhara Sadar got second prize for painting in the competition held on Bangbandhu’s birth anniversary on March 17 last year. It was used by the UNO in the invitation cards of Independence Day on March 26 same year.
The case was lodged with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s [CMM] Court in June. The UNO was transferred to Barguna Sadar from Agailjhara Upazila after filing of the case. Prior to that the UNO was served show cause notice by Barisal Deputy Commissioner being directed by Barisal Divisional Commissioner.
