Magistrate asks police to report on 4 bloggers

A Dhaka court on Monday ordered police to submit a report on the four bloggers arrested recently for write-ups that allegedly whipped up people’s religious passions.

The court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Tareq Moinul Islam Bhuiyan gave the order on the two investigation officers of the cases, police detectives Sazzad Hossain and Mainul Islam, after hearing the bail pleas of the four.

The court said the next order would be delivered upon getting the report on Wednesday.

On Apr 10, the Detective Branch of Police produced blogger Asif Mohiuddin after interrogating him for four days while three other bloggers Subrata Adhikari Shuvo, Mashiur Rahman Biplob and Rasel Parvez were also produced on expiry of their seven-day remands.

The court had sent them to jail and fixed Monday for further hearing on their bail petitions.

Shuvo, Biplob and Parvez were picked up from the capital on Apr 1 after the Hifazat-e Islam demanded arrest of ‘atheist bloggers’ for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.

The following day, police were given seven days to interrogate them by a court and their bail petitions were rejected.

On Apr 4, a Dhaka court granted police three days to question Asif, a day after he was called to the detective police office.

His remand was extended by another day later.

The bloggers have led the movement at Shahbagh demanding death penalty to all convicted war criminals. They have also called for a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami and other religion-driven parties, thus drawing the ire of the Islamists.

Their movement eventually spread across Bangladesh.

The Hifazat-e-Islam, widely believed to be backed by Jamaat-e-Islami, produced a list of 10 ‘atheist bloggers’, with Asif Mohiuddin’s name on it. They said the bloggers should be hanged.

Asif was attacked previously in January presumably for his blogs.

Of the bloggers, Shuvo is doing his masters at Dhaka University, while Biplob and Rasel are former students of the premier public university.

Source: Bd news24