A special tribunal on Monday scrapped a bail plea of former Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Sonagazi Police Station Moazzem Hossain and sent him to jail. He is accused in a case lodged under Digital Security Act for recording Feni Madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi’s statement on video and spreading it online.
Judge Mohammad As-Shams Jaglul Hossain of Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal passed the order and set June 30 for framing charges in the case.
Advocate Faruk Ahmed stood for the bail petitioner. Plaintiff Barrister Sayed Sayedul Haque Suman was also present during the hearing.
Moazzem was arrested from capital’s Shahbagh area on Sunday.
The tribunal on May 27 issued arrest warrant against the disgraced cop a day after Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) submitted its probe report over the incident. Investigation officer and PBI senior ASP Rima Sultana filed the report at Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal on May 26, stating that they have found the allegations brought against the police official, true.
Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Syed Sayedul Haque Suman filed the case on April 15 with Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal this afternoon under section 26, 29 and 31 of Digital Security Act (DSA). Recording the testimony of the plaintiff, Judge Mohammad As-Shams Jaglul Hossain of Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal asked deputy inspector general of Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to submit probe report on April 30.
According to Deputy Commissioner Md Anisur Rahman of Criminal Intelligence and Prosecution, the tribunal had denied OC Moazzem's bail appeal and he has been sent to jail. Earlier in the morning, Dhaka Metropolitan Police along with a team of Feni police took the former Sonagazi OC to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court.
Later, OC Moazzem was presented before the Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal. Moazzem, who had been in hiding since last month, was arrested from city's Shahbagh area on June 16. Following the case filed by Barrister Suman, the tribunal had asked the PBI to submit an investigation report. According to the probe report, the OC himself had recorded the video on camera and later passed the footage to someone else.
The footage shows that Moazzem was asking Nusrat “insulting” questions. The footage became viral on internet. On March 27, Nusrat, a student of Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa in Feni’s Sonagazi upazila, was set on fire on April 6 allegedly for refusing to withdraw a case filed against the madrasa Principal Siraj Ud Doula for sexually harassing her.
On April 10, she died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. On the same day, the OC was withdrawn as Nusrat’s family alleged that he was not cooperating with them. On May 8, the police official was suspended over negligence of duty and attached to the office of DIG of Rangpur range.