Nawshaba finally gets bail

A special court on Tuesday granted actress Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed bail a day before Eid in a case filed under the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act for allegedly spreading rumours on social media during the recent student movement for safe roads.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Debabrata Biswas who presided over the court granted Nawshaba interim bail until Oct 1.

Magistrate Mahmuda Akter had previously rejected Nawshaba’s bail petition on Monday, but gave permission for her treatment at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

Her lawyer AH Imrul Kawser said that Nawshoba had received bail because of her ‘illness’.

“Now that she has received bail she will be taken to a private hospital.”

Nawshaba will be out on bail until Oct 1, when the case report is due, he said.

Nawshaba went live on Facebook on the afternoon of Aug 4 and claimed two protesters had been killed and another had his eyes gouged out during clashes at Jigatala, a neighbourhood in Dhaka. She, however, was at a shooting site at Uttara at that time.

The law enforcers detained her later that day and police started a case against her under the ICT Act.

Nawshaba fell ill after six days in police custody on Aug 13. She was denied bail several times before hand.

Imrul Kawser, the lawyer for Nawshaba, said the actress has to choose her bed carefully and follow her doctor’s advice to move after a spine surgery in India a few years ago.

He claimed Nawshaba had no ill motive behind spreading the rumours, but had received wrong information.

The government alleges there were attempts to topple it by using the non-political student protests.