Probe into Shahidul Alam case to remain on hold

A High Court rule that stayed an investigation into a case against photographer Shahidul Alam for three months will have to be settled by Dec 18, according to an Appellate Division order.

A four-judge appellate bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order on Sunday after settling the petition filed by the state against the stay order issued by the High Court.

As a result, the stay order issued by the High Court will remain in force, said Shahidul Alam’s lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua.

"The Appellate Division has ordered the settlement of the rule by Dec 18 by the bench headed by Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury.”

Barua was aided by former Attorney General Lawyer AF Hasan Ariff in court. On the other end, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam represented the state.

"Some clauses were later scrapped in the Information and Communication Technology Act under which Shahidul Alam was accused,” said AG Alam. Therefore, the High Court stayed the investigation of the case against him.

“On Apr 4, we filed a writ petition against the order. The Appellate Division very quickly ordered the settlement of the High Court rule and settled our petition.”

Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil of the High Court issued a rule on Mar 14 following a writ petition filed by Shahidul Alam challenging the legality of the case.

The police arrested Shahidul Alam, founder of the Drik Gallery, Pathshala and the South-Asian Media Institute on Aug 5, over charges of spreading rumours during a campaign for safer roads by students in Dhaka.

The police later filed a case under the ICT law against Shahidul Alam alleging that he had ‘provoked people and spread false propaganda’. He was released from jail on Nov 20 last year, five days after the HC granted him bail.