The High Court on Monday stayed for six weeks the five-day police remand of Adilur Rahman Khan, detained secretary of human rights watchdog Odhikar, and ordered the authorities to send him to jail immediately in connection with a case under the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act. The court, however, permitted the law enforcers to interrogate Adilur, if necessary, at the jail gate. The Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested Adilur in front of his Gulshan office cum-residence in the capital at around 10:30 pm on Saturday, shortly after a case was filed for publishing a "false report" on the crackdown of the Hefazat-e-Islam at Shapla Chattar in the Motijheel area on May 5.
In response to a petition filed by Adilur challenging the legality of the remand prayer, the court also issued a rule upon the government to explain in two weeks why the lower court order granting remand prayer against the rights body secretary should not be cancelled.
A Dhaka court on Sunday permitted the police to place Adilur on a five-day remand in the case filed under the ICT Act.
The High Court bench of Justice Borhanuddin and Justice Kashifa Hossain came up with the order and rule after holding hearing on the petition challenging the lower court order.
In the petition, Adilur said the lower court did not follow the due process while passing the remand order against him. He stated that the High Court had in 2003 issued directives to the lower court and the police so
that no accused is harassed mentally or physically during interrogation. But the directives were not followed in his case, Adilur added.
DB Inspector Ashraful Islam filed the case with Gulshan police station complaining that Odhikar published a “false report” that tarnished the image of the state, the government and law enforcement agencies.
On June 10, Odhikar published online a report titled, “Assembly of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh and Human Rights Violation”. The human rights watchdog claimed that 61 people, not 13 as estimated by the government, died in the early hours of May 6, when law enforcers flushed out several thousand Hefazat activists from Shapla Chattar in Motijheel.
Charges were brought against Adilur under Section 57 (1) and (2) of the ICT Act, which states that publication of fake material on the website or other electronic forms will be regarded as an offence if it “causes deterioration or creates possibility to deteriorate law and order, prejudice the image of the State or person or causes to hurt or may hurt religious belief or instigate against any person or organisation.”