Photographer Shahidul Alam lands in jail after police questioning

Photographer-activist Shahidul Alam has been sent to jail following court orders after police grilling in a case over ‘spreading provocative lies’ amidst student protests for safe roads.

The Detective Branch of police had remanded him in their custody amid criticism at home and abroad after his arrest on Aug 5 in an ICT Act case.

DB Inspector Arman Ali, who is investigating the case, produced Shahidul in the Chief Metropolitan Magistrates Court of Dhaka after the remand on Sunday.

When the investigator sought orders to keep him in jail until the end of the investigation, Metropolitan Magistrate Fahd Bin Amin Chowdhury ordered Shahidul into jail.

The home secretary is scheduled to submit a report to the court within Monday on whether the Drik Gallery founder was tortured physically or mentally in police custody.

The High Court ordered the fresh report on Thursday after Sara Hossain, a lawyer for the petitioner, sought a fresh medical checkup on the photographer during the hearing of a writ petition filed by his wife Rahnuma Ahmed.  

The first checkup conducted at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University following previous High Court orders was incomplete because no psychiatrist checked whether Shahidul was tortured in custody, the lawyer argued.

During the first checkup on Wednesday, the doctors “found no reason” to admit him and the law enforcers took him back into their custody.

Shahidul, who is also the founder of Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, is involved in human-rights campaign.

He went live on Facebook discussing the clashes in the Jigatala amidst student protests for road safety on Aug 4-5.

He also criticised the government during an interview with Al Jazeera TV. His family told the media that he had been taken from his home in Dhanmondi.

Later, DB charged him with attempting to spread ‘fear and panic’ over the internet using ‘fantastical and provocative lies’.