What promised to be another busy, hectic day at the capital was disrupted instead by an astonishing piece of news slowly filtering through the courts of Dhaka involving a defamation lawsuit and the Prime Minister. Our court correspondent was on the spot today trying to make sense of the information.
As it turned out it is indeed a defamation lawsuit filed in accordance with Bangladesh Penal code 500/501, the merits of which will be contested in the Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka. The date it was filed is 4/3/2019.
What is of greater importance however is the lawsuit’s connection to the Prime Minister herself. Our court correspondence informs us that there is no direct. However, the plaintiff, one Mr MD Hasnain, resident of Bhola states the accused individuals in this lawsuit have slandered the good name of the Prime Minister Hasina, her government and its affiliates. Speaking of the accused, a total of 13 individuals and organizations (listed below, starting with the primary defendant) have been named as defendants in this lawsuits. At the very top end of the list happens to be an online news publication called ‘PortalBangladesh.com’ and its moderators, namely the co-editor and contributors. The defendants allegedly had an abusive article published in the aforementioned online news outlet. Said article, our correspondent states, contain ‘vile and provocative’ comments against the Prime Minister Hasina and her family, along with former Prime Minister and father of the nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The names of those accused in this lawsuit are as follows,
Mohammad Rashed Alam, MD Anisuzzaman, MD Sabbir Hossain, Chinmoy Debnath, Shah Mohammad Shaheenur Rab, Azir Uddin, Kawsar Hamid, Mohammad Abu Zobayer Rabbani, Nizam Uddin Dodon, Mashiul Hossain Khan, MD Tofail Hossain, MD Mizanur Rahman.
It is yet as to what exactly the origin of the plaintiff is, more importantly whether he has political ties with the Awami League or has acted independently. Our correspondent did try to get in touch with him but was unsuccessful. According to our sources, it is understood that ‘PortalBangladesh.com’ is a news website. According to the information extracted from the lawsuit the website is maintained from foreign shores, and that a large number of the defendants are actually residing abroad right now. It has thus been difficult to get a hold of them, however we have emailed ‘PortalBangladesh.com’ in a bid to receive a response from them, surrounding this lawsuit.
Our correspondent also reached out to the Police for comments. We were refused entry into the station proper as a spokesperson for the police chose to speak to us outside instead. He stated, “These are very serious allegations and our officers are trying their best to coordinate their efforts into investigating them. Of course we are yet to conclude primary investigations before producing a charge sheet, but nevertheless the media will be notified in due course if there are any significant developments.” Meanwhile we got in touch with the Bangladesh Home ministry regarding this lawsuit and are yet to receive a response, so watch this space.
Although the courts of Bangladesh are fairly saturated with defamation lawsuits, high profile ones such as this one tend to bear added implications rather than just legal ones. According to Bangladesh Penal Codes 500/501, the accused, if found guilty of slandering Prime Minister Hasina and government, will be liable to not only face a sizeable fine but also a significant amount of jail time.
We will try and gather more information about this lawsuit, so stay tuned.
