Journalist Probir Sikdar sued for libel under ICT Act for writing against Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain

Hours after having been detained by detectives in Dhaka, a case under the ICT Act has been filed in Faridpur accusing journalist Probir Sikdar of slandering a government minister.

Faridpur’s Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Swapan Kumar Pal filed the case at Kotwali Police Station around 11pm on Sunday.
 
The allegation against him is character assassination of LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain through a Facebook post.
 
Hossain is the father-in-law to the daughter of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and an MP from Faridpur.
 
Plaintiff Paul told bdnews24.com Sikdar wrote a Facebook status saying that his life was in danger and blamed the state of insecurity on the minister.
 
‘He cast aspersion on the minister using information technology,” he added.
 
Sikdar said he had gone to police to file a complaint over being threatened with death after writing on Facebook. He said in a post that police refused to register a General Diary.
 
He wrote a post on Aug 10 titled, ‘Those who will be responsible for putting my life in danger or my death’.
 
“I am clearly saying that the people named below will be responsible for my life being at risk or my death,” Probir wrote.
 
“1. LGRD Minister Engineer Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, MP
 
  2. Razakar Nula Moosa alias Dr Moosa bin Shamser
 
  3. Death-row war criminal Bachchu Razakar alias Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad

  And their followers-associates.”
 
He was whisked away to the DB office on Sunday evening for that post. Police said they ‘called’ him for questioning.
 
His son Suprio Sikdar told bdnews24.com Detective Branch officials took his father away from his Indira Road office at 6:30pm.

“He was taken to a blue police van first. Later in Khamarbarhi area, he was moved to a brown private car that took him to the DB office,” he said.

Probir Sikdar

Probir’s younger brother Piyush Sikdar, wife and two sons later met him at the DB office on getting a phone call.
 
Quoting a DB assistant deputy commissioner (ADC), Suprio said his father would have to spend the night there.
 
“Asked why, he said ‘his hands were tied’.”
 
After midnight, police took Probir to a microbus and left the DB office.
 
Suprio then said they came to know that his father was being taken to Faridpur, where a case under the ICT Act was filed against him.
 
Probir Sikdar had written on Shamser's alleged role in the Liberation War in an article headlined 'Shei Razakar' when he was the Faridpur correspondent of Daily Janakantha in 2001.
 
He subsequently lost his leg to an attack carried out allegedly by Shamser’s men.
 
His brother Piyush said their family had lost 14 members, including their father, in the 1971 war against Pakistan.
 
An investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission against Shamser is under way.
 
The businessman’s daughter is married to the son of Awami League Presidium Member and Hasina’s cousin Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, MP.
 
Recently, Probir protested against a piece of writing on online news portal banglanews24.com that compared Shamser to the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
 
Then, he started posting on Shamser.
 
Hours before his detention on Sunday, he shared his article tilted, “Know who this ‘Prince Dr Moosa bin Shamser’ really is”.
 
He also wrote: “The number of war crimes tribunal is rising. No-one will be spared!”
 
He left Faridpur and came to Dhaka after the 2001 attack. He was on the entourage of the prime minister during her visit to China last year.