A Dhaka court has charged four in two cases under the Information and Communications Technology Act for writing alleged inflammatory blogs on sensitive religious issues.
Metropolitan sessions court judge Md Zahurul Haque on Sunday gave the order against the four bloggers — Asif Mohiuddin, Subrata Adhikari Shuvo, Moshiur Rahman Biplob and Rasel Parvez.
The judge also fixed November 6 for beginning their trial in both cases.
This is the first time any accused has been charged under the ICT Act after it was amended. If proved guilty, they could be given between 7 to 14 years in prison under the amended law.
Detective police had arrested Shuvo, Biplob and Parvez on April 1 night and Asif on April 3 morning. Their detention came following Hifazat-e Islam demanding their arrest after the bloggers had made alleged postings in internet blogs offending religious sentiments.
Police filed the cases against them on April 17 under the ICT Act.
Three of them were accused in one of them while Asif alone was accused in the other.
They were charged under ICT’s sub-section (2) of Article 57 for inflammatory write-ups and hurting religious sentiments. Police took the bloggers on remand.
According to the Act, any inflammatory write-ups on sensitive religious issues can be considered a crime and those responsible can be sentenced a maximum of 14 and a minimum of seven years’ imprisonment.
Of the four, Parvez and Shuvo were released on bail on May 12 and Biplob on June 2. Asif secured bail on June 27 after spending nearly three months in jail.
-With New Age input
