Police advised to interrogate him at jail gate
This August 10 photo shows police producing Odhikar Secretary Adilur Rahman Khan before a Dhaka court after he was arrested at his Gulshan residence on Saturday.
The High Court Monday stayed for six weeks the five-day remand for Adilur Rahman Khan, detained secretary of rights body Odhikar, and ordered the authorities concerned to send him to jail immediately in connection with a case.
The HC however permitted the police to interrogate Khan, if necessary, at the jail gate.
Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested Khan at Gulshan in the capital Saturday night shortly after a general diary was filed for publishing a “false report” on the crackdown of Hefajat-e Islam in the capital’s downtown Motijheel area in May.
In response to a petition filed by Khan 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 police to place Khan on a five-day remand in the case filed under Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act.
The HC bench of Justice Borhanuddin and Justice Kashifa Hossain came up with the order and rule after holding hearing the petition challenging the lower court order.
In the petition, Khan said that the lower court did not follow the due process while passing the remand order against him.
He also stated that the High Court in 2003 has issued some directives upon the lower court and police so that any accused is not harassed either mentally or physically during an interrogation.
But the directives were not followed in his case, Khan added.
DB Inspector Ashraful Islam filed the general diary 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 Hefazate Islam Bangladesh and Human Rights Violation”.
The rights body claimed that 61 people, not 13 as estimated by the government, died in the early hours of May 6, when law enforcers flushed several thousand Hefajat activists out of Shapla Chattar in Motijheel.
Charges were brought against Khan under Section-57 (1) and (2) of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act, which states that publication of fake material on website or other electronic forms will be regarded as an offence if it “causes to deteriorate 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.”
Source: The Daily Star