Councillor, publisher feud now talk of Sylhet city

The feud between a city corporation councillor and a local daily resulting in cases filed under Digital Security Act in Sylhet have been the talk of the town over the last few days.

The dispute started over a report published in the Ekattorer Kotha on November 28 alleging that ward-22 Councillor Saleh Ahmed Shalim grabbed land of a government school.

The first case was filed by a personal secretary of Nazrul Islam Babul, the publisher of Ekattorer Kotha, on December 2 against Shalim and four others with Kotwali Police Station on charges of spreading "defamatory speech" against the publisher on Facebook.

The other case filed by Shalim two days later with Shahporan Police Station accused Babul and 17 others of publishing and spreading fake news. 

The others accused in the case filed by Babul's personal secretary Rana Miah are umayun Rashid Sumon, Kamal Uddin, Kazi Jubayer Ahmed and Ehsan Ahmed, who also shared the defamatory posts on Facebook.

Rana said, "The accused defamed the newspaper's publisher and editor in social media and I filed the case on behalf of the publisher."

The councillor on the other hand accused the publisher and others who shared the news on Facebook.

The news in question mentioned that the councillor was trying to grab the land of a government primary school and extorting the local land owners.

Contacted, Councillor Shalim, also a ruling Awami League Leader, said, "I saw the news online the day they published it. My supporters protested against the news on Facebook. In several interviews on Facebook, I said the publisher of the newspaper himself is a controversial industrialist. The news was published to defame me and I will take legal action against them.

"But to my surprise, they filed a case against me. Then I filed the case against them. I believe that the report intended to defame me," he said.

Officials said both the cases were being investigated.