A Dhaka court on Thursday discharged Odhikar secretary Adilur Rahman Khan from the general diary filed by the police under which he was arrested on August 10.
Metropolitan magistrate Md Nuru Mia passed the order after the Detective Branch of police filed an application seeking Adilur to be dischargeed from the general diary as specific charges were pressed against him.
Adilur’s defence counsel Md Asaduzzaman, however, said that the rights activist
was discharged as the investigation found no evidence against him.
Asaduzzaman said that the court did not allow his plea to produce Adilur in the courtroom from the lock-up during the hearing.
Earlier on Wednesday, a Cyber Crime Tribunal in Dhaka took cognisance of charges against Odhikar secretary Adilur and its director AKM Nasiruddin Elan.
The tribunal judge, AKM Shamsul Alam, had also issued a warrant for the arrest of Nasiruddin Elan as the police showed him fugitive in the case.
The tribunal had posted for September 19 the hearing in the framing of charges.
The case was transferred to the tribunal for trial on September 5, a day after the Detective Branch inspector Ashraful Islam submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court after investigation into a general diary filed with Gulshan police station on August 10.
In the charge sheet, the investigator pressed charges against Adilur and Elan for publishing ‘false report and doctored photos on the death toll in the law enforcers’ action on the Hefajat-e-Islam men in the capital on May 5 and early May 6.
The investigation officer pressed the charges under Section 57(1) of the Information and Communication Technology Act 2006 and Section 505(c) of the Penal Code.
The charges are punishable with imprisonment 10 years or fine of Tk 1 crore under the ICT act and with imprisonment for seven years under the Penal Code.
Odikhar in one of its recent reports claimed that 61 people were killed in the police drive against Hefajat men on May 5 and early May 6.
On August 10, a Detective Branch team picked up Adilur while he was entering his Gulshan house in the night.
A metropolitan magistrate court on August 11 had remanded Adilur in custody for five days for interrogation but the High Court had halted the remand and ordered him to prison.
-With New Age input
