The Appellate Division has rejected a  plea of photojournalist Shahidul Alam for leave to appeal against a High Court order that rejected his petition challenging the legality of investigating a case that was filed against him under the Information and Communication Technology Act (ICT Act) some four years ago. A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foyez Siddiqui passed the order on Sunday (November 27, 2022). During the hearing, lawyer Fida M Kamal stood for Shahidul while Attorney General AM Amin Uddin represented the state. Read more: Photographer Shahidul Alam asked to submit regular petition against HC order Now there is no bar to investigating the case due to the order from the Appellate Division, said Amin. On August 6, 2018, a case was filed against Shahidul, also founder of Drik Gallery, under Section 57 of the ICT Act with Ramna Police Station. On August 12, a court directed to send Shahidul to jail over a case filed against him with Ramna Police Station for 'spreading propaganda' through Facebook during the student movement seeking safe roads. Read more: CPJ names Shahidul Alam among four for Int’l Press Freedom Awards 2020 He was freed from jail on November 20, two days after the HC granted him bail. On March 3, 2019, Shahidul filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the legality of investigating his ICT case by Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court. After a hearing, the High Court (HC) put a stay order on the investigation for three months. After increasing the length of the stay order multiple times, the HC bench of Justices JBM Hasan and Rajik Al Jalil rejected the plea on December 14, 2021. Read More: Singer Asif Akbar indicted in ICT case Later, photojournalist Shahidul Alam submitted the leave to appeal petition with the Appellate Division against the HC order.

A Dhaka court on Thursday framed charges against popular singer Asif Akbar in a case filed under the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Act. Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge Mohammad As-Sams Jaglul Hossain framed the charges rejecting the plea for acquittal and set June 23 to start recording statements of witnesses, said public prosecutor Najrul Islam Shamim. With the framing of charges the formal trial in the case has started. On June 4, 2018, lyricist and singer Shafiq Tuhin filed the case against Asif at Tejgaon police station. On November 20, 2019, the investigation officer in the case filed two separate chargesheets against the singer under the ICT Act and Penal Code. According to the case complaint, the plaintiff found out that Asif sold 617 songs of different lyricists, musician and singers without their permission through an investigative program named,”Search Light,” broadcasted in a private TV channel on June 1, 2018. Read: Asif, Lutfor coming up with an Islamic song this Ramadan Later the plaintiff got information from different sources that Asif digitalized those songs through his production company ARB Entertainment and earned a huge amount of money. Shafiq Tuhin posted a status about the matter on his personal Facebook account where Asif commented indecently. Later Asif came live on Facebook and said he will resist Shafiq anywhere he finds him.  

Exiled author Taslima Nasrin and two others have been charged by Counter Terorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit in a case filed under Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act. Nazmul Nishat, inspector of CTTC and investigation officer in the case, filed the charge sheet with the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court on October 3, said general registration division of the court on Thursday. Two other accused are Supriti Dhar Lipa, editor of online portal Women Chapter and Suchismita Simanti, its acting editor. Read: Avijit murder accused Farabi acquitted in ICT case According to sources, the investigation officer recommended acquitting another accused Leena Haque, a counsellor of the Women’s Chapter, finding no evidence against her. On April 19, 2018, Allama Muhammad Mahbub Alam, editor of the monthly Al Bayanat filed a case against the four including Taslima with Cyber Tribunal Dhaka. The court recorded the statement of the plaintiff and ordered Shahjahanpur police station to record the case as First Information Report. Read: CU teacher Maidul gets 6-month bail in ICT case According to the complaint, Supriti Dhar, Suchismita Simanti and Leena Haque have often published hateful writings against Islam through a website named the Women Chapter. On the afternoon of April 17, 2018, an article by Taslima Nasrin titled “Women have no religion with rapists” was published on the website, it said. The article states, “The Prophet also killed Jewish men in the Arab world and distributed their daughters among his companions”, which has hurt the religious feelings of the plaintiff, said the plaintiff in complaint.