Barrister Mainul Hosein ends up with ordinary prisoners in jail

Barrister Mainul Hosein has ended up with 40 ordinary prisoners in jail, hours after he was arrested on charges of defaming a journalist in a TV talk-show.

As there was no directive from the court as to which status Mainul was entitled to in prison, he was kept together with the ordinary prisoners in a ward of the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj, Jailor Mahbub Alam said on Tuesday.

Mainul, a former adviser to the military-controlled caretaker government, was put to the ‘Amdani Ward’, where prisoners sent by the court are kept initially, a jail official said. The official requested anonymity as he was not authorised to speak about the issue.  

There is no chair or bed for prisoners in the ‘Amdani Ward’, which means Mainul will have to spend the time with the others on the floor if the court does not direct otherwise or any special situation develops, according to the official.

Earlier in the day, Mainul was taken to the court of Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaisarul Islam who passed the orders rejecting his bail application and sending him to jail.

The court plunged into chaos after the BNP-backed lawyers, angered by the orders, shouted slogans.

Mainul was arrested at Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD President ASM Abdur Rab’s home in Dhaka’s Uttara on Monday night in a case over his remarks on TV defaming journalist Masuda Bhatti. He was taken to the DB custody after the arrest.

The case against Mainul was started in Rangpur and a court there issued a warrant for his arrest.

Mainul is one of the sponsors of the recently formed Jatiya Oikya Front, an alliance led by Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain.

Mainul, the publisher and editorial board chief of The Daily New Nation, has been facing intense criticism since Oct 16 when he called Bhatti ‘a woman of loose morals’ in Ekattor Journal, a talk show aired live on Ekattor TV.

A son of The Daily Ittefaq founder-editor Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah, was in charge of law, justice and parliamentary affairs, among others, during his tenure in the caretaker government.

Mainul’s brother Anwar Hossain Manju owns the Ittefaq now. Manju is also the water resources minister in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet.

Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia had been among a horde of politicians and businessmen when Mainul became an adviser to the 2007-08 caretaker government during emergency.

Mainul’s arrest came hours after Hasina told journalists at a press conference that the law-enforcing agencies will look into the issue created by the “defamation” of their colleague.