Odhikar's Adilur, Elan get 2 years jail in ICT case

A court in Dhaka has sentenced rights organization Odhikar's secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and its director SM Nasiruddin Elan to two years in jail in a case over publishing a report about the death toll in clashes between police and Hefazat-e-Islam activists in Dhaka in 2013.

Dhaka Cyber Tribunal Judge AM Zulfikar Hyat delivered the verdict on Thursday.

This was the maiden case under the Information and Communication Technology Act. 

BSS adds: The court also fined them Tk 10,000 each, and in default, they will have to serve one month more behind bars.

Detective Branch (DB) of Police on August 10, 2013 filed a general diary with the Gulshan Police Station against the duo for running distorted information and doctored images regarding the law enforcement agencies' action on a rally of Hefazat-e-Islam in the capital's Motijheel on May 5-6, 2013. The matter was later converted into a case.

Odhikar in its report said that 61 people were killed in the police raid on that night. It also ran some grisly but doctored images over that raid.

After conducting the probe, DB filed chargesheet against Adilur and Elan on September 4, 2013.

The case was taken into cognizance by Dhaka Cyber Tribunal on September 11 and they were indicted in 2014.

JA/SU