Photojournalist Kajol denied bail in case under Digital Security Act

A Dhaka court today again rejected a bail petition of photojournalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol in a case filed under the Digital Security Act.

Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka passed the order after his lawyer Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua submitted a criminal appeal against the lower court's rejection order.

On June 24, Metropolitan Magistrate Dhiman Chandra Mondol rejected Kajol's bail petition in the case.

During today's hearing, the lawyer told the court that his client was very sick and one of his hands was paralysed.

On August 10, Metropolitan Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury ordered jail authorities to give him better treatment. But the jail authorities are yet to provide him with proper treatment, his lawyer said.

So, Kajol's bail petition should be granted considering his illness, he added.

The case against Kajol was filed by Saifuzzaman Shikhor, a ruling party lawmaker from Magura-1, with Sher-E-Bangla Nagar Police Station on March 9.

Two more cases under the same act were subsequently filed against Kajol on March 10 and 11 with Hazaribagh and Kamrangirchar police stations respectively.

Fifty-three days into his disappearance, Kajol was found by Border Guard Bangladesh in Benapole on May 3.

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

Later in the evening he was shown held under section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) after police informed the court that three more cases against Kajol were now pending with different police stations in the capital.

The court then sent him to Jashore Jail.