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Published : 21 Oct 2018, 05:14 PM
Besides Masuda’s lawsuit in Dhaka, another woman initiated a case against Mainul at a Jamalpur court on Sunday on charges of defaming the women.
Mainul, who was in-charge of law, justice and parliamentary affairs, among others, during the military-controlled caretaker government, secured interim bail from the High Court after the two trial courts issued warrants for his arrest.
Mainul’s remarks have triggered a firestorm of anger and criticism on the internet and intense public discussions since Oct 16 when he called Masuda ‘a woman of loose morals’ in Ekattor Journal, a talk show aired live on Ekattor TV.
In the show, Masuda asked Mainul, one of the sponsors of the Dr Kamal Hossain-led alliance with the BNP, if claims made on the social media that he attends meetings of the Jatiya Oikya Front as a Jamaat-e-Islami representative were true.
“I want to believe that you are a woman of loose morals,” Mainul said at one stage of the show.
Mainul, who is also the chairman of the editorial board of The New Nation, apologised to Masuda on phone and explained his remarks in a statement.
Masuda and women’s rights activists demanded Mainul apologise publicly for his remarks made in public. They also threatened him with legal action if he does not offer a public apology.
As Mainul did not respond, Masuda started the case at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka.
Masuda also alleged in her case that people on behalf of Mainul were ‘speaking dirty’ with her on phone and ‘threatening’ her on Messenger app.
She believes Mainul’s remarks are “insulting also to all the women and pose a threat to freedom of journalism and humanity”.
Kazi Najibullah Hiru and Omar Faruq, the lawyers for the journalist, mentioned protests by different women’s groups and sought arrest warrant for Mainul.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Asaduzzaman Noor ordered Mainul’s arrest. The judge set Nov 22 for the police to submit report on the warrant.
In the Jamalpur case, the district’s Jubo Mohila League unit Convenor Farzana Yasmin Lita demanded Tk 200 billion in damages from Mainul. She alleged defamation as a woman.
Jamalpur Senior Judicial Magistrate Solaiman Kabir issued the arrest order, according to the representative for the prosecution, Muhammad Baki Billah.
Later in the day, Mainul, a lawyer at the Supreme Court, surrendered to the High Court and sought anticipatory bail.
The bench of Justice Muhammad Abdul Hafiz and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim granted Mainul a five-month anticipatory bail.
Deputy Attorney General Rafi Ahmed represented the state while Supreme Court Bar Association President Zainul Abedin and AKM Ehsanur Rahman argued for Mainul at the court.
The association’s former president Khandaker Mahbub Hossain and incumbent General Secretary AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon were also there.
Zainul, Khandaker Mahbub and Khokon are leaders of the BNP, which is now an ally of Dr Kamal’s Gono Forum in the Oikya Front.
Zainul told reporters that they “had not expected” Masuda to start the case after Mainul’s apologised by phone and in a written statement.
He suspects the cases had political motivation as the plaintiff in Jamalpur is a member of the female front of the ruling party’s youth wing.
“I have faced a national incident. I have been insulted very much by being called a ‘Jamaat agent’. I am respectful to the law. I won’t say anything more,” Mainul told the media.
Deputy Attorney General Rafi said the state would appeal against the High Court’s bail order.
