Police have pressed charges against author Taslima Nasrin and two others in a case filed under the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
The Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of police submitted the charge sheet to a Dhaka Court recently. The General Registration (GR) section of the court concerned confirmed the matter to the media on Thursday (October 14).
The two other accused who were indicted in the case are Supriti Dhar Leepa, editor of Women Chapter, and Sushmita Simanti, acting editor of the online portal.
Nazmul Nishat, an inspector of CTTC unit of police and also the investigating officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet against the three accused for allegedly prejudicing religious sentiments in a column of Taslima Nasrin titled ‘Rapits don’t care women’s religion’.
Sources said that the police official submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka on October 3. The investigating officer, however, recommended the release of Leena Haque, another accused in the case.
According to the charge sheet, Taslima Nasrin and three others are on the run and arrest warrants were issued against them through Interpol.
On April 17 in 2018, the Women Chapter, an online portal on women related issues, uploaded the writing of Taslima Nasrin. The writing states, ‘The Prophet also had killed Jews in Arab and distributed their daughters among his companions.’
On April 19 in 2018, Allama Muhammad Mahbub Alam, editor of the monthly Al Bayanat, filed a case against four people, including Taslima Nasrin, with the Dhaka Cyber Tribunal.
The lawsuit claims that Supriti Dhar Leepa, Sushmita Simanti and Leena Haque have often published hateful writings against Islam through the website called the Women Chapter. The lawsuit also claims that the write-up of Taslima Nasrin is hateful which hurts religious sentiments of the Muslims.
After the lawsuit, the court had recorded the statement of the plaintiff and ordered the Shahjahanpur Police Station in the capital to record the case. The case was recorded at the Shahjahanpur Police Station on April 26 of that year.
