Court sends Mainul Hosein to jail for remarks defaming journalist Masuda Bhatti

A Dhaka court has sent Barrister Mainul Hosein, a former adviser to the military-controlled caretaker government, to jail in a case over his remarks on TV defaming journalist Masuda Bhatti.

Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaisarul Islam passed the order on Tuesday, turning down a bail appeal from Mainul.

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

On Monday night, Mainul was detained from Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD President ASM Abdur Rab’s home in Dhaka’s Uttara on Monday night. Mainul 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, according to police.

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 journalist Masuda Bhatti ‘a woman of loose morals’ in Ekattor Journal, a talk show aired live on Ekattor TV.

Mainul, 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.

The two brothers’ battle for the ownership of the daily had made headlines for years.