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Published : 13 Apr 2026, 05:24 PM
Baul artiste Abul Sarkar from Manikganj has been released after serving six months in jail in a case over hurting religious sentiments.
He was released from Kashimpur High Security Central Jail-2 in Gazipur at 11:20am on Monday.
After leaving the prison, he first came to the gate in a rickshaw. Later, he left the locality in a white microbus. His family members were present there.
However, he did not speak to the media as he was ill.
Halima Khatun, senior jail superintendent of Kashimpur Central Jail-2, said that after the bail papers reached the prison, he was released following document verification as there were no other cases against him.
Sarkar is a resident of Char Tilli village in Saturia Upazila of Manikganj district. He is the son of late Amzad Ali.
On the night of Nov 20, a team from Manikganj Detective Branch (DB) arrested Sarkar from a music festival in Madaripur.
The next day, Md Abdullah, the Imam of Gior Bandar Mosque, filed a case with Gior Police Station, naming Sarkar as a suspect.
He was shown arrested in that case and taken to the Senior Judicial Magistrates Court in Manikganj that evening, but the judge ordered him to be sent to jail.
The bench of Justice Md Atoar Rahman and Justice Md Sagir Hossain granted bail to him on Apr 6.
Sarkar, a resident of Manikganj’s Saturia, and is known locally as “Chhoto Abul Sarkar”. He is the husband of Aleya Begum, a vocalist on “Kotha Koiyo Na”, a popular song performed on the Coke Studio Bangla show.
Different cultural organisations have vocally protested Sarkar’s arrest as well as attacks on Baul artistes and followers in Manikganj.
The Ganatantrik Sangskritik Oikya held a protest rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club on Nov 25 to demand his release.
