Hurting religious sentiment: Suspended JnU student indicted in DSA case

A Dhaka tribunal today framed charges against Tithy Sarker, a suspended student of Jagannath University (JnU), in a case filed for making "derogatory comments" about religion on Facebook.

The accused, now in jail, pleaded not guilty and demanded justice after Judge Mohammad Ash Sams Joglul Hossain of Dhaka Cyber Tribunal read out the charges to her, Shamim Al Mamun, bench assistant of the tribunal told The Daily Star.

The tribunal also discharged Tithy's husband Shiplu Mallik from the charges of the case scrutinising the case documents and other relevant elements.

Later, the tribunal set November 18 for starting the trial.

Police on November 11 last year arrested Tithy from the Madhabdi area of Narsingdi and Shiplu from the Kaptan Bazar area in the capital.

Later, the couple were shown arrested in a case filed under the Digital Security Act with Paltan Police Station on November 2.

On May 19 this year, Investigation Officer Mehedi Hasan, also a sub-inspector of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police, pressed charges against the couple.

On October 23 last year, some screenshots of Tithy's Facebook posts and comments hurting people's religious sentiment, went viral on social media.

Following the incident, JnU students had demanded punishment agaisnt her.

Tithy was also suspended from her post of office secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra Odhikar Parishad's JnU unit on October 23 for breaching rules of the organisation, following students' protest.

On the same day, she filed a general diary (GD) with Pallabi Police Station, claiming that her Facebook ID was hacked.

She was suspended from the university on October 26 last year amid a students' protest.

Tithy's family earlier told journalists that she went missing on the morning of October 25 last year after leaving her Pallabi home for the local police station.

Her elder sister Srity Rani Sarker had filed a missing person's report with Pallabi Police Station on October 27 that year.