HC grants bail to Rashtrachinta’s Didarul

Didarul Bhuiyan, a member of Rashtrachinta, who was arrested in a case under the Digital Security Act, has been granted bail by the High Court.

The High Court bench of Justice M Inayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman granted him bail on Monday.

Lawyers Hasnat Qayyum, Kazi Jahed Iqbal and Jyotirmoy Barua were present in the court for the hearing of the bail application. 

Earlier, Didarul's bail application was rejected in a judicial court. He then applied for bail in the High Court.

Didarul was arrested on May 8 in a case filed by RAB at Ramna Police Station under the Digital Security Act. The other accused in the case are: cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, businessman Mushtaq Ahmed, Dhaka Stock Exchange Director Minhaz Mannan, journalists Tasnim Khalil and Shahed Alam, Saer Zulkarnain, Ashiq Imran, Phillipp Schuhmacher, Shapan Wahid, and blogger Asif Mohiuddin.

They were accused of using Facebook to spread rumours about the Father of the Nation, the Liberation War and the novel coronavirus pandemic; tarnishing the image of the state or government; and creating unrest.

The case statement also said that various posts were made from the "I am Bangladeshi" page to tarnish the image and reputation of the state. Saer Zulkarnain, Ahmed Kabir Kishore, Ashiq Imran, Phillipp Schuhmacher, Mushtaq Ahmed, Shapan Wahid had been managing the page for a long time. 

Referring to Didarul and Minhaz as being "friends" of Mushtaq on Facebook, it was said in the statement that evidence of conspiratorial chatting against the state had been found on their WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.