The Appellate Division on Monday suspended bail of Jagannath University student Khadijatul Kubra for another four months in two cases under the Digital Security Act(DSA). An Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order. Advocate BM Elias Kachee and Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua stood for Khadija, while Assistant Attorney General Saiful Alam represented the state. Students demand release of JnU student Khadija Khadija was granted bail by the High Court on February 16 in two Digital Security Act cases. The state filed petition challenging the bail. During the hearing, Khadija's lawyer Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua argued that she was not accountable for the opinions expressed by guests in videos on her YouTube channel. The Appellate Division responded that Khadija, “as a first-year honours student, should be able to accept responsibility for the opinions aired on her talk show program.” Steps taken to prevent misuse of DSA: Law Minister In October 2020, police filed two cases against Khadija and retired Maj Delowar Hossain at the Kalabagan and New Market Police Stations for 'spreading anti-government propaganda and harming Bangladesh's reputation.' The allegations in the two cases filed a week apart, were similar. Police arrested Khadija on September 17, 2022. She has been imprisoned since then. Over 7,000 cases under DSA: Law Minister According to the case details, Khadija and Delowar conspired to broadcast false, fabricated, and defamatory propaganda about the Prime Minister, various government agencies, and senior state officials in order to oust the country's legitimate administration. They were aiming to destroy communal harmony through their conspiracy by promoting enmity, hatred, and division among various communities, it said. Khadija was 17 when the cases were filed under the Digital Security Act in 2020, but the case was filed showing her as an adult, according to her lawyer. Despite having kidney disease, Khadija's bail petitions were repeatedly denied by a Dhaka court, he said.    

A student of Jagannath University, who sustained burn injuries in a gas pipeline explosion at Dhupkhola Bazar in Gandaria area of Dhaka city on Monday, died at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery early Saturday. The deceased was identified as Mehedi Hasan Shaon, 22, son of Abdul Latif from Sadar upazila in Natore district. With 30% burn injuries, Shaon was undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, where he succumbed to his injuries around 6:15 am today, said Inspector Bachhu Mia, in-charge of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital police camp. Earlier, on Monday, at least nine people sustained burn injuries in a gas pipeline explosion in Dhupkhola Bazar area. Also read: 2 women among 9 burnt in gas line explosion in Dhaka The injured were Md Sohel, 42, Mehedi Hasan Shaon, 22, Ali Hossain, 52, Rashed Miah, 32, Sahara Begum, 65, Abdur Rahim, 50, Mim Akter, 22, Alif, 22, Mizanur Rahman, 32. Of them, Abdur Rahim and Shaon received around 40 and 30 percent burns, respectively. All the injured were admitted to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery and Burn Unit. According to a statement of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, a contractor of WASA was setting up pipes for water supply in the area on Monday morning. The explosion occurred in the morning when the gas pipelines were damaged during digging by the WASA contractor, it said. Responding to the call, an emergency team from Titas Gas rushed to the spot and fixed the issue, it read.  

Sharjeel Imam, the research scholar of Delhi's prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University accused of sedition, has been arrested from his hometown - Bihar's Jehenabad.  A spate of police cases were registered against Sharjeel Imam after a video of him allegedly making anti-national comments was widely circulated online, reports NDTV.