Prothom Alo editor gets bail

A Jhalakathi court yesterday granted permanent bail in a case filed against Bangla daily Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman.

The accused appeared in the court of Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Arifuzzaman in the morning and prayed for bail in the case filed on charge of hurting religious sentiments of the Muslims and the Hindus.

After hearing, the court granted the prayer, and also exempted Matiur Rahman from personal appearance in the court in the case, said Manik Acharya, lawyer of the defendant.

The court fixed the next date of hearing on February 22, he added.

Advocate Bani Amin Baklai filed the case with the Jhalakathi court against Matiur Rahman, editor of the Prothom Alo, and Md Majid Ali, photojournalist of the same daily, on April 9 in 2014, said Akkas Shikder, another lawyer of Matiur Rahman.   

In this regard, Baklai presented two reports of the newspaper -- one published on September 17 in 2007, and another on March 11 in 2013, and a picture of last year's January 5 election, carried by the online version of the daily.

Matiur Rahman claimed that all the allegations against him are false.

On January 21, Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Arifuzzaman issued arrest warrant against Rahman after he failed to appear before the court on three summonses.