Former OC Moazzem faces judgment Thursday over Nursat video release charges

A tribunal will on Thursday deliver its verdict in a case against Moazzem Hossain, a former OC of Sonagazi Police Station in Feni, stemming from the murder of madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi.

Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal Judge Mohammad As-Shams Jaglul Hossain set the date for the judgment a week ago after hearing the closing arguments from all sides in the digital security case.

Moazzem is accused of releasing a video of a statement by the madrasa student on social media before her death in an arson attack.

He was the chief of the Sonagazi Police Station when Nusrat pressed charges of sexual harassment against her madrasa principal Siraj-ud-Daula in March. He had recorded her statement on his mobile phone.

The video was later posted on social media amid widespread protests over a deadly arson attack on Nusrat in April by the followers of Siraj, who had already landed in jail on the sexual abuse charges.

Lawyer Syed Sayedul Haque Suman subsequently started against Moazzem in Dhaka under the Digital Security Act on Apr 15, after Nusrat died in hospital.

The cyber tribunal issued an arrest warrant for Moazzem on May 27 after the Police Bureau of Investigation submitted the report on an investigation that found evidence of the allegations brought against Moazzem.

Following Nusrat’s death, Moazzem was initially transferred to the Rangpur range of police and later suspended from the force for negligence in handling the Nusrat case.

The Feni police and Rangpur police were at loggerheads over the arrest of Moazzem. The media then reported Moazzem absconding.

Police arrested him when he left the High Court after filing a bail appeal on June 16.

He had denied circulating the video on social media.

Someone had stolen the video from his mobile phone and released it on the Internet, he had said.

Moazzem, in tears, said his family were ashamed of him being charged in the case while defending himself in court on Nov 14.

“It doesn’t matter how severe the punishment will be because I’ve already received tougher punishment than that,” he had told the tribunal.

“I have been socially disgraced by the case. My 15-year-old son can’t go to school out of shame. I would not have received such punishment if I had carried out 10 killings.”

“My mother in her 70s and my daughter are saddened by this.”