Why should Kajol not get bail?

The High Court yesterday issued a rule asking the government's authorities concerned to explain in two weeks why photojournalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol should not be granted bail in a case filed under the Digital Security Act.

The court also ordered the investigation officer of the case to appear along with the case docket before it on November 12.

The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman came up with the rule and order following a petition filed by Kajol seeking bail in the case.

Lawyers Jyotirmoy Barua, Fuad Hasan and Ripon Kumar Barua appeared for the photojournalist while Deputy Attorney General Sarwar Hossain Bappi represented the state during the hearing of the bail petition.

Speaking to The Daily Star, Ripon said Kajol was accused in three cases and he was yet to get bail in any of those.

Kajol in the bail petition said he should be granted bail because of his illness and the DSA section, under which he was implicated, did not apply to him as he did not defame anybody, the lawyer added.

According to the case statement, Kajol was engaged in extortion by obtaining information illegally and publishing false, intimidating, and defamatory information via Facebook and Messenger.

On August 24, judge Emrul Kayes of a Dhaka court refused to grant bail to the photojournalist in the case filed under the Digital Security Act (DSA).

Earlier, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Dhiman Chandra Mondol on June 24 had rejected his bail petition in the case.

Two other cases were filed against Kajol under the DSA on March 10 and 11 with Hazaribagh and Kamrangirchar police stations respectively.

Kajol, now in Dhaka jail, went missing on the evening of March 10, after leaving his office in Dhaka's Hatirpool. Border Guard Bangladesh found him in Benapole of Jashore on May 3.

He was then arrested, initially on charges of trespassing, but was granted bail by a Jashore court after being produced before it.

Later, Kajol was shown held under section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) after police informed the court that he was accused in three more cases filed with different police stations in the capital.

The court then sent the photojournalist to Jashore jail.