Nawshaba freed on bail in case over spreading Facebook rumours

Actress Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed has been freed on bail in an ICT Act case in which she is accused of spreading rumours on the social media amidstthe recent student movement for safe roads.

The authorities of Dhaka Central Jail released her from Gazipur’s Kashimpur on Tuesday afternoon, on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha, after getting court documents, Jail Superintendent Md Shahjahan told bdnews24.com.

Her husband and elder brother came to receive her, Shahjahan said.

Earlier in the day, a special court granted Nawshaba interim bail until Oct 1, the date in which when the case report is due.
 
Nawshaba had secured bail because of her ‘illness’, her lawyer AH Imrul Kawser told bdnews24.com.
 
“Now that she has received bail she will be taken to a private hospital,” he said.
 
Another court rejected Nawshaba’s bail petition on Monday, but allowed her to be treated at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.
 
Nawshaba went live on Facebook on the afternoon of Aug 4 and claimed two protesters had been killed and another had his eyes gouged out during clashes at Jigatala, a neighbourhood in Dhaka. She, however, was at a shooting site at Uttara at that time.
 
The law enforcers detained her later that day and police started a case against her under the ICT Act.
 
Nawshaba fell ill after six days in police custody on Aug 13. She was denied bail several times beforehand.
 
Imrul Kawser, the lawyer for Nawshaba, said the actress has to choose her bed carefully and follow her doctor’s advice to move after a spine surgery in India a few years ago.
 
He claimed Nawshaba had no ill motive behind spreading the rumours, but had received wrong information.
 
The government alleges there were attempts to topple it by using the non-political student protests.