ETV chairman denied bail again

The High Court again denied bail to Ekushey TV (ETV) Chairman Abdus Salam in a sedition case today.

The court rejected the bail petition of Salam, saying that this court earlier refused to grant him bail in the same case, and there is no new ground in his fresh bail petition, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Bashir Ullah told The Daily Star.

The HC bench of Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique and Justice Amir Hossain rejected the bail petition after hearing arguments from both sides.

Police filed the sedition case with Tejgaon Police Station on January 8 after ETV broadcast BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman's speech from London live on January 5.

Bashir quoted the case statement as saying Salam in collusion with some others of the ETV broadcast Tarique's statement which created an anarchic situation.

Salam was arrested in front of ETV's Karwan Bazar office in connection with another case on January 6 and later he was shown held in the sedition case.

Citing a statement made by Salam before a magistrate, his lawyer Abdur Rab Chaudhury told the court that his client was not responsible for broadcasting Tarique’s speech, since he is merely the chairman of ETV, not the editor.

DAG Bashir opposed the bail petition, saying there are specific allegations against Salam in this regard.

He told The Daily Star that Salam can file a new bail petition to another bench if he can mention new grounds in it.

Earlier on March 1, the HC bench of justices Quamrul Islam Siddique and Gobinda Chandra Tagore returned a bail petition of Salam to his lawyers, saying it will not grant him bail, since another bench earlier rejected his similar petition.

On January 8, two days after his arrest, Salam was denied bail and sent to prison in a case filed over pornography control law.

Another Dhaka court rejected Salam's bail petition in the same case on February 1.