Home
+
Tithy Sarkar was convicted of sharing religiously provocative posts on Facebook
Published : 13 May 2024, 02:34 PM
A tribunal has sentenced Jagannath University student Tithy Sarkar to five years in prison in a case under the Digital Security Act for hurting religious sentiment.
Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge AM Zulfiqar Hayat delivered the verdict in the case on Monday.
Tithy was given the opportunity to respond to the charges under Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. When asked whether she was guilty or innocent of the testimony given by the state against her, she admitted that she was guilty. The court then delivered the verdict.
Tithy will be under the probation of the Department of Social Services for one year, confirmed Jewel Mia, the acting bench assistant of the tribunal. If Tithy is believed to have reformed during this probation period, she will not have to serve five years in prison.
Probation allows a convict’s sentence to be suspended, allowing them to remain out of jail. However, they have to live their life while abiding by several strict conditions during this period.
The court usually enforces such a probation for first offences or minor crimes, or when the convict is a child, adolescent, or minor. It gives them the chance to reform and integrate into society among family and friends while under the supervision of a probation officer.
Court official Jewel added that the same tribunal is also taking statements against the JNU student in another case of hurting religious sentiments.
Jagannath University Chhatra League leader Abu Musa Rifat filed a case against Tithy, a student in the Department of Zoology in the 2017-18 academic year, over allegations of hurting religious sentiments in her Facebook posts. The university administration later expelled her.
Tithy had said at the time that her account had been hacked. She filed a general diary with the police to the effect.
On Oct 24 that year, she went missing on her way from her home in Dhaka’s Pallabi to the local police station. Her family filed a general diary over the incident.
On Oct 31, a CID Cyber Monitoring Team found a post stating that Tithy had been recovered ‘bound hand and foot’ from a CID office in Malibagh.
The CID launched an investigation to ‘stop rumours’ and arrested an individual named Niranjal Baral from Rampura’s Banasree area.
On Nov 11, 2020, Tithy was arrested by the CID from the house of a distant relative of her husband in Panchdona in Narsingdi’s Madhabdi.
“Tithy used her Facebook ID to share religiously provocative posts, comments, and information at various times. As a result, the students at the university protested and held rallies. To avoid future danger and keep herself safe, Tithy filed a GD at the Pallabi Police Station on Oct 23 claiming her Facebook ID was hacked.”
“Then she staged a kidnapping drama to go into hiding. She believed that by going into hiding and putting the blame for the kidnapping on others, she would be able to avoid responsibility for harming religious sentiment or divert attention in another direction.”
Before Tithy was found, the CID filed a case under the Digital Security Act at the Paltan Police Station on Nov 2 of that year accusing Niranjan and some unnamed others.
Following her arrest, her husband Shiplu Mollik was also arrested from Dhaka’s Gulistan. The court then remanded Tithy for a day over the two cases. Her husband Shiplu was sent to jail.
CID Sub Inspector Mehedi Hasan submitted the chargesheet in the case to the court on May 19, 2021 after the investigation concluded.
On Nov 4, 2021, then Judge As Shams Jaglul Hossain of the Cyber Tribunal indicted Tithy and ordered the case to trial.
However, her husband Shiplu and detainee Niranjan were acquitted.
The verdict in the case was delivered on Monday.
