JnU student Khadija discharged from one DSA case

Jagannath University (JnU) student Khadijatul Kubra was discharged from a case filed under the Digital Security Act at Kalabagan police station in the capital.

However, the other case, filed at Newmarket police station, was postponed for hearing till February 29.

Dhaka Cyber Tribunal judge AM Zulfiqar Hayat passed the order on Sunday.

In October 2020, police filed two cases against Khadija and retired Maj Delowar Hossain at the Kalabagan and New Market Police Stations for 'spreading anti-government propaganda and harming Bangladesh's reputation.'

The allegations in the two cases filed a week apart were similar.

Police arrested Khadija on September 17, 2022.

Khadija suffered over 14 months of jail in the DSA cases, and finally walked out of jail on Nov 20, 2023, after securing bail from the Supreme Cout.

According to the case details, Khadija and Delowar conspired to broadcast false, fabricated, and defamatory propaganda about the prime minister, various government agencies, and senior state officials in order to oust the country's legitimate administration. They were aiming to destroy communal harmony through their conspiracy by promoting enmity, hatred, and division among various communities, it said.

Khadija was 17 when the cases were filed under the Digital Security Act in 2020, but the case was filed showing her as an adult, according to her lawyer.

Despite having kidney disease, Khadija's bail petitions were repeatedly denied by a Dhaka court.