Sued Under DSA: HC grants journo Sushanta bail

The High Court yesterday granted ad-interim bail to Sushanta Dasgupta, editor and publisher of local newspaper Dainik Amar Habiganj, in a case filed under the Digital Security Act.

The HC bench of Justice Md Ashraful Kamal passed the order of bail to Sushanta following a petition filed by his lawyer seeking bail in the case.

The ad-interim bail will continue till further hearing of his bail petition in the same case before a regular High Court bench following its reopening after the ongoing shutdown, Sushanta's lawyer Advocate AM Amin Uddin told The Daily Star yesterday.

Amin also said there is no legal bar for his client's release from jail following the HC's bail order.

Deputy Attorney General Bashir Ahmed represented the state during the virtual hearing of the bail petition yesterday.                   

Sushanta also runs a platform called Amarmp.com that provides contact information about parliamentarians and allows constituents to communicate with their representatives.

The platform was developed with support from the government's ICT Division.

The journalist was picked up from his newspaper office in Habiganj town's Chirakandi area on May 21 this year.

Speaking to The Daily Star on May 22, Masuk Ali, officer-in-charge of Habiganj Police Station, said, Sayeduzzaman Zahir, general secretary of Habiganj Press Club, lodged the case against Sushanta and three other journalists of the newspaper for running "false reports" on lawmaker Abu Zahir.  

Sayeduzzaman said, "The lawmaker from Habiganj-3, Abu Zahir, is a respected person. He is also the district Awami League president and a lifetime member of Habiganj Press Club. Recently, Sushanta Dasgupta's newspaper ran several false reports on Abu Zahir."

"I felt that the reports directly affected the image of the press club also. That's why I filed the case," he told The Daily Star.

Lawmaker Abu Zahir said, "My public image has been compromised because of those false reports."