ETV chairman denied HC bail again

The High Court yesterday again denied bail to Ekushey TV Chairman Abdus Salam in a sedition case.
The HC rejected the bail petition of Salam, saying it had earlier refused to grant him bail in the same case, and there was no new ground in his fresh petition, Deputy Attorney General Bashir Ullah told The Daily Star.
He said police filed the case with Tejgaon Police Station on January 8 after ETV had broadcast BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman's speech from London live on January 5.
The case says Salam in collusion with some others of ETV broadcast Tarique's statement which created an anarchic situation as it involved the chief justice, army and law enforcers, he said.
In the speech, telecast several times on ETV, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's son called upon supporters not to return home until the present government had been toppled.
Salam was arrested in front of ETV's Karwan Bazar office in connection with another case on January 6, and later he was shown arrested in the sedition case.
Yesterday, the HC bench of Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique and Justice Amir Hossain rejected the bail petition after hearing arguments from Salam's lawyer Abdur Rab Chaudhury and DAG Bashir Ullah.
Citing a statement made by Salam before a magistrate, Abdur Rab Chaudhury told the court that his client was not responsible for broadcasting Tarique's speech, since he is merely the chairman of ETV, not the editor.
DAG Bashir opposed the bail petition, saying there are specific allegations against Salam of broadcasting the speech of Tarique.
He told this correspondent that Salam can move a fresh bail petition to another bench, if he can mention new grounds in it.