Staff Reporter: A court has granted a four-day remand to model and actress Kazi Nowshaba Ahmed in a case of spreading rumors on Facebook Live.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mazharul Haque granted the remand on Sunday afternoon in the case under the Information and Communication Technology Act. At the same time, he rejected the accused's bail application.
Earlier, the investigating officer of the case, Uttara West Police Station SI Bikash Kumar Pal, presented Naushaba to the court and applied for a seven-day remand.
Nawshaba was brought to the court docket during the remand hearing. She appeared frightened and tearful.
The remand application states that the accused broadcasted a country email list live video from his own mobile phone on Facebook ID on Saturday at around 4 pm from house number 2 on road number 4, sector 13 of Uttara, saying in a very appealing voice, "They are attacking the students protesting in Jigatola, gouging out one eye and killing four others. Do something wherever you are." His call went viral on domestic and foreign social and electronic media in an instant. As a result, panic and hatred spread in the public mind. When various media workers called to know the source of his false propaganda, he could not give a proper explanation in his favor. In fact, no such incident took place in Jigatola at that time. He deliberately and premeditatedly published such false and defamatory statements to undermine the state and its image and to hurt the feelings of the public. He is not a student of any college or university and is not a guardian.
The remand application states that since the death of two students in a bus accident on July 29, the accused has been intentionally expressing solidarity with the protesting students by posting various statuses on Facebook. He has also admitted that he distributed water to the protesting students in front of the Ruposhi Bangla Hotel on August 3 and tried to incite the students against the state in various ways. In such a situation, it is necessary to take the accused on a seven-day police remand to interrogate him to find out the information about which people prompted him to post this false information on Facebook Live and make it go viral.
During the remand hearing, lawyer AH Imrul Kausar, on behalf of the accused, requested the remand to be cancelled and granted bail. He said, the students' movement is not a political movement. Everyone, starting from the Prime Minister, has expressed their agreement with them. This accused is also the same. He was shooting at the time of the incident. At that time, a certain Rudra called him and gave him that information. He revealed it with an honest heart.
At this time, the judge said, "She is a famous actress, model and a conscious person in society. How could she do this without checking anything?"
At this time, the lawyer said that he acted emotionally after hearing it immediately. Later, realizing his mistake, he also posted a rejoinder on Facebook. Yesterday, Saturday night, RAB arrested Naushaba from the capital's Uttara area. After that, RAB-1 filed the case.