Writ petition challenges legality of Meghna Alam’s detention under Special Powers Act

Her father files the petition with the High Court

A writ petition has been filed with the High Court challenging the legality of model Meghna Alam’s detention under the Special Powers Act.

The petition was submitted on Sunday by Meghna’s father, according to lawyer Qazi Zahed Iqbal.

He said that the petition would be heard by the bench of Justice Razik-Al-Jalil and Justice Tamanna Rahman Khalidi.

“If there are any specific allegations against Meghna Alam, there are legal procedures available. But why has she been detained under the Special Powers Act?" Iqbal said.

“We believe she has been detained based on a vague accusation. That is why the legality of the detention has been challenged.”

Meghna was detained from a house in Dhaka’s Bashundhara Residential Area on Apr 9.

Shortly before her arrest, she went live on Facebook, claiming that “people identifying themselves as police” were attempting to break into her home. The livestream, which lasted over 12 minutes, was cut off shortly after she was detained and was later deleted from her account, though clips had already spread on social media by then.

Later, the former Miss Earth Bangladesh was presented before a Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate's Court by the Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police. Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sefat Ullah ordered that she be held in custody for 30 days under the Special Powers Act, following a petition by the DB.