Sued under DSA: Dipti finally gets bail

After a series of legal battles and suffering in custody for around 16 months, Dinajpur college student Dipti Rani Das yesterday got permanent bail from the High Court in a case filed under the Digital Security Act for hurting religious sentiments.

The HC order paved the way for her release from a juvenile correction centre in Rajshahi.

She will be released any day next week once the copy of the order reaches there, Deputy Attorney General Sujit Chatterjee Bappi told The Daily Star.

Replying to a query, he said the government was yet to instruct him to move an appeal before the Supreme Court's Appellate Division challenging the HC order.

The bench of Justice ASM Abdul Mobin and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim granted the bail following an appeal filed by Dipti on the grounds that she was a 17-year-old minor girl during the incident and that she has been suffering in custody for a long period, her lawyer Md Shahinuzzaman told The Daily Star.

Rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra is providing legal support to her.

Lawyers ZI Khan Panna, Md Asaduzaman, Md Anisul Hasan and Shahinuzzaman appeared for her during a virtual hearing on the appeal.

On October 28, 2020, Dipti was arrested in Dinajpur's Parbatipur upazila after she allegedly made a comment on a Facebook post the previous day hurting people's religious sentiments.

DAG Sujit Chatterjee said lower courts had earlier rejected her bail petition six times considering that the charges against her were serious.

She filed the appeal with the HC challenging the lower court's orders.

On May 11 last year, the HC accepted her appeal for a hearing and granted her bail for six months.

Then the state moved an appeal before the Appellate Division against the HC order.

The Appellate Division stayed the HC order of bail and asked the HC to hold a hearing on her appeal.

The state did not oppose the appeal during the virtual hearing yesterday, the DAG added.

Different rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have been demanding Dipti's release.