Jhumon gets conditional bail from HC

The High Court yesterday granted Jhumon Das Apon conditional bail for one year in a case filed under the Digital Security Act over criticising former Hefajat-e-Islam leader Mamunul Haque on Facebook.

Jhumon Das has been in jail for over six months.

The HC said in the order that Jhumon Das cannot leave his district, Sunamganj, for the next year without permission from the lower court concerned.

The HC bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice KM Zahid Sarwar Kajol passed the order following a petition filed by Jhumon Das's mother Nibha Rani Das seeking his bail in the case.

The petitioner's lawyer ZI Khan Panna told The Daily Star that there was no legal bar for Jhumon Das to be released from Sunamganj jail following the HC's bail order.

He said Jhumon Das will be released from jail when the jail authorities receive the bail order.

Lawyers Tabarak Hossain, Subrata Chowdhury, Nahid Sultana Juthi and Ashraf Ali also appeared for the petitioner, while Deputy Attorney General Yahiya Dulal and Assistant Attorney General Md Mizanur Rahman represented the state.

Jhumon Das's mother Nibha Rani Das recently filed the petition saying he has been suffering in jail for a long period without any trial.

ZI Khan Panna told the HC that Jhumon Das is a patriot and not a traitor as he spoke out against communal forces.

The case should have been filed against those communal forces under the DSA, he argued.

Police, with the help of locals, detained Jhumon on March 16 to pacify agitated Hefajat supporters and avoid a possible attack on the village, but in vain.

They showed Jhumon, 25, arrested under section 54 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and produced him before a Sunamganj court on March 17.

The court later sent him to jail.

His Facebook post allegedly led to the mayhem in Noagaon village of Sunamganj's Shalla upazila on March 17, which saw about 90 Hindu houses vandalised and looted.

On March 22, police filed the case against Jhumon and 20-30 unnamed people under DSA. In the case statement, they attached Jhumon's Facebook post and mentioned that he intentionally spread information that is aggressive, intimidating, false and disgraceful in nature.

They also said Jhumon in his Facebook post attached a defamatory photo of Mamunul Haque.

A Sunamganj court on April 20 placed Jhumon on two-day remand in the DSA case. Police remanded him into custody and sent him back to jail.