Nagar Baul, Miles withdraw cases against Banglalink

Rock bands Nagar Baul and Miles have withdrawn their cases against mobile phone operator Bnaglalink under the Copyright Act for using their songs without prior permission.

A total of four officials from Banglalink were named in the cases.

On Thursday, Nagar Baul member James and Hamin Ahmed from Miles appeared to withdraw the cases at the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Session Judge Imrul Kayes. 

“The case was filed following a misunderstanding and we don’t want to continue with it anymore,” Manam Ahmed of Miles said during the hearing.

Banglalink CEO Eric Aas, Chief Compliance Officer M Nurul Alam, Chief Corporate Regulatory Officer Taimur Rahman and Head of Value Added Service Anik Dhar were present in court, said state counsel Tapas Pal. All of them were previously granted bail in the cases.

“The petitioners willingly appealed for the withdrawal of the cases and the court has granted it,” said defence lawyer Md Matiur Rahman.

James and Hamin Ahmed filed two cases against five officials from Banglalink on Nov 10 last year.

The petitioners later dropped Sanjay Bhagasia, then chief digital officer of Banglalink from the case after he relocated abroad.

Banglalink earned millions using the songs 'Neela' and 'Phiriye Dao' without permission, Manam and Hamin complained in the case. They claimed to have suffered financial losses due to this misuse, they said.

James filed a similar complaint about the songs ‘Dukhini Dukkho Korona,’ ‘Zikir,’ ‘Lutpat,’ ‘Sushmita’ and ‘Jar Jar Dhormo.’ 

A hearing of the cases was slated for Thursday, but the petitioners chose to withdraw the cases.

Both parties were having a discussion regarding arbitration and Nagar Baul and Miles had sought Tk 5 million each, their lawyer Baharul Islam said last year.

The petitioners, however, refrained from saying anything regarding a settlement on Thursday.