Actress Nawshaba to face police grilling again over Facebook rumours

Police will question actress and model Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed in their custody for two more days in a case that accuses her of spreading rumours on the social media amidst student protests for safe roads.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mazharul Haq ordered the fresh remand of Nawshaba after rejecting her bail petition on Friday. 

Investigation officer Uttara Police Station SI Bikash Kumar Paul took the actress to court with a plea for a 10-day remand.

Students and staffers at the Awami League Dhanmondi offices clashed on Aug 4 amidst protests for road safety measures and justice for deaths in road accidents.

When rumours spread, Nawshaba did a live broadcast on Facebook with claims that two protesters had been killed and that one had his eye gouged out.

SI Bikash said in the remand petition that they need to question her further after a four-day remand to know her email contacts and if she had other email accounts.  

AHM Imrul Kawser, her lawyer, argued that Nawshaba’s video message was not meant to create anarchy and she was not involved in any antigovernment activities, but was misled.   

During an initial questioning, Nawshaba said she had not been at the scene during the Facebook Live stream, but had been at a shooting spot in Uttara. Her broadcast had made it appear as if she was on the spot.

RAB Media Wing Director Mufti Mahmud Khan said she had made the plea on behalf of someone else.

“Nawshaba acknowledged her mistake and apologised for it on Facebook,” lawyer Imrul Kawser said. “She did not mean to incite anything.”

Police argued that they needed to question her on remand to “find who was involved, who instructed her to make the post and to recover her mobile phone”.