Court denies baul Shariat bail

A Tangail court yesterday denied bail to baul singer Shariat Sarkar in a case filed over “hurting religious sentiment”.

After hearing, Mohammad Shawkat Ali Chowdhury, district and sessions judge, passed the order in the afternoon, said Tanvir Ahmed, court inspector in Tangail.

Earlier, Anisur Rahman Humayun, lawyer for Shariat, prayed to the court seeking his bail, while S Akbar Khan, public prosecutor in Tangail, opposed his bail.  

On December 24 last year, Shariat talked about Islam at a “pala gan-er asar” (folk music show) in Dhamrai of Dhaka.

On January 9, Maulana Faridul Islam, an imam of a Tangail mosque, filed the case against Shariat with Mirzapur Police Station under the Digital Security Act, alleging that his speech hurt his “religious sentiment”. At that time, locals held a rally in the area, demanding immediate arrest of Shariat.

Mirzapur police arrested him in Mymensingh’s Bhaluka the next day and produced him before a Tangail court, seeking a 10-day remand for him. The court placed him on a three-day remand. 

On expiry of the remand, police produced Shariat before the same court on January 13 and the court sent him to jail.