Baul Shariat sent to jail

A Tangail court on Tuesday sent a Sufi folk singer Shariat Sarker to jail in a case filed under the Digital Security Act for allegedly hurting religious sentiment.

Tangail Judicial Magistrate Court passed the order after Shariat was produced before the court upon completion of a three-day remand.

On Saturday, police detained Shariat from Mymensingh's Bhaluka area after a Muslim cleric filed a case over comments he made at a show in December last year.

Investigation officer Mizanur Rahman, sub-inspector of Mirzapur police station, said, "Shariat admitted the allegation of making the comments mentioned in the case statement during the remand."

According to the case statement, Shariat during a show on December 24 said, "It is nowhere mentioned in the Quran that singing is banned." He also made some other remarks about the Quran and Hadis.

Clips of the show was uploaded on YouTube and a group of people, including clerics, staged a rally demanding the singer's arrest.

Lawyer for Shariat Zinia Bakhsh said appeal has been filed to the District & Sessions Judges Court for his bail.

More than a hundred of bauls and Shariat's relatives thronged the court premises today.