Judge who jailed Barisal UNO owes govt over Tk 90,000 in rents for using Circuit House

The Barisal judge, who sent UNO Tariq Salmon to jail on charges of ‘distorting’ Bangabandhu’s image, has not paid the rent for his stay in the Barisal Circuit House, according to a government document.

Barisal Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 22 July 2017, 06:39 AM
Updated : 22 July 2017, 06:54 AM

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Ali Hossain owes Tk 93,950 to the district administration for using one of the rooms for eight months and two days.

A letter signed by Nezarat Deputy Collector Kalyan Chowdhury emerged in the social media on Wednesday amid a firestorm over the incident.

Hossain, who possessed the keys to one of the rooms of the district administration's guesthouse between Oct 27, 2015 and Jun 28, 2016, had paid rents only for five days.

The charge of the room is Tk 90 a day for the first three days, Tk 120 for the next four days each and Tk 400 a day afterwards, which amounted to Tk 93,950 in total, according to the letter.

It also Hossain had been notified of the dues twice last year -- on May 26 and Aug 4.

Hossain is yet to pay the outstanding amount, Barisal Deputy Commissioner Gazi Md Saifuddin told bdnews24.com on Friday.

While serving as the Upazila administration chief or UNO of Barisal's Agailjharha, Tariq Salmon used a drawing of Bangabandhu by a fifth-grader for the invitation card of the Independence Day celebrations.

Salmon, now stationed in Barguna, was in jail for several hours on Wednesday after Barisal Bar Association President Obaidullah Saju sued him for using the drawing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which he alleges was distorted.

Saju is also a leader of the ruling Awami League's Barisal district unit.

The public servant was jailed when he appeared before the court and pleaded for bail. He was kept in a lock-up of the court for two hours until the same judge granted him bail.

In his defence, Salmon had told the court that the portrait of Bangabandhu was drawn by a child and selected through an official drawing competition on the occasion of Independence Day.

Magistrate Hossain did not answer repeated calls to his mobile from bdnews24.com on Friday.

His phone kept ringing on Saturday morning as well, but was found switched off afterwards.