The High Court (HC) has granted interim bail for a year to Jhumon Das, who has been in jail for about six months in a case filed under Digital Security Act (DSA) for criticising Hefajat-e-Islam leader Mamunul Haque on Facebook.
The HC bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice KM Zahid Sarwar granted the conditional bail on Thursday (September 23) following a petition filed by Jhumon Das’s mother Nibha Rani Das.
According to the condition, Jhumon Das can’t go out of his home district Sunamganj for the next one year without permission from the trial court.
Advocates ZI Khan Panna, Tabarak Hossain, Subrata Chowdhury, Nahid Sultana and Ashraf Ali appeared for Jhumon Das, while Deputy Attorney General Yahiya Dulal and Assistant Attorney General Mohammad Mizanur Rahman represented the state.
Advocate ZI Khan Panna said that there was no legal bar for Jhumon Das to get released from Sunamganj jail following the HC order of bail.
Earlier on Tuesday, the High Court fixed Thursday for passing an order on the bail petition.
On March 15, Hefazat-e-Islam held a rally in Dirai upazila of Sunamganj, where its former chief Allama Junaid Babunagari and the then joint secretary general Maulana Manunul Haque preached.
The same day, 25-year-old Jhumon Das in a Facebook post commented that Mamunul Haque’s speech would disrupt the communal harmony. Hefazat men staged demonstration, accusing Jhumon Das of hurting religious sentiments.
On March 17, a group of miscreants carried out an attack on the houses of Hindu community in Noagaon village of Shalla upazila in Sunamganj following the Facebook post of Jhuman Das.
Police detained Jhuman Das and produced him in the court, showing him arrested in a case filed under Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). The court subsequently sent him to judicial custody. On March 22, police filed a case against him under DSA with the Shalla police station in Sunamganj and Jhumon Das was again shown arrested a day later.
On March 30, he was taken on a two-day police remand in the case. On July 18, a magistrate court rejected the bail petition of Jhumon. Nearly month later, Jhumon Das moved the High Court for bail in the case.