Digital Security Act: Journo jailed in Cumilla for spreading rumours

A journalist has been sent to jail in Cumilla after he was arrested in a case filed over spreading rumours on social media.

The arrestee, Mosheur Mahfuz Babu, is owner of online news portal Times of Cumilla and a reporter of a local newspaper, reports our Cumilla correspondent.

Babu has been arrested in a case filed against him and two others for spreading rumors on social media about former law minister Advocate Abdul Matin Khasru MP, said Porimol Chandra, a sub-inspector of Detective Branch in Cumilla.

According to the case statement, Md Alamin Bhuiyan, an activist of Burichang upazila unit Chatra League, filed the case against Babu and two others -- Sabiha Rahman and Forhad Khan -- for spreading a rumour that the former law minister had died at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) after suffering from multiple complications, SI Porimol, also investigation officer of the case, said.

"Mahfuz Babu and Forhad Khan have been sent to jail after they were produced before a Cumilla court on Thursday afternoon shown arrested in the case filed under Digital Security Act against them. Their phones were seized and an investigation is going on in this connection," the police official said.

Talking to The Daily Star, Ahmed Abu Jafor, secretary of Bangladesh Mofoshal Sangbadik Forum, expressed hope that the actual facts would be revealed after a proper investigation.