A ruling party lawmaker filed a defamatory case against Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, the Editor-in-Chief of Bengali daily Mababzamin, and 31 others under the Digital Security Act for publishing derogatory reports involving him with expelled Jubo League leader Shamima Nur Papia.
Saifuzzaman Shikhor, lawmaker from Magura-1, filed the case on Monday with the capital’s Sher-e-Banglanagar Police Station. Jan-e-Alam, the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the police station said, Matiur Rahman and reporter Al Amin Munsi were accused of publishing a defamatory report involving him with Papia while the rest 30 people were accused of publishing the news on different news portals and sharing it and social media platforms like Facebook.
The OC said the case was filed under the Digital Security Act. The other 30, who were named in the case are Shafiqul Islam Kazol, Prince Fahim, Ariful Islam Arif, Farhad Khan, Jewel Ahmed, Mohamad Moslem, Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, Morshed Alam, Kakon Abu Hanif, Mohammad Rubel, Ayesha Aman, Mohammad Shamim Akhter, Md Sattar Mridha, Md Toqfiq, Mili Hasan, Habib Adnan, Rishi Kanto, Md Sohel Hossain, Saleh Ahmed, Jasim Uddin Jasim, Md Khairul Islam, Hedayetul Islam, Md Mahfuj Ahmed, MA Mamun, Md Helal, Selim Chowdhury, Ispat Mohammad, Belayet Hossain, Maruf Razu, and Moktel Hasan Mukti.
On February 22, Rapid Action Battalion arrested Papiya, her husband Mofizur Rahman Sumon along their accomplices at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka when they tried to leave the country. The RAB later seized counterfeit notes, foreign currency and around Tk2.5 lakh from their possession.
Papiya, the expelled general secretary of Jubo Mohila League's Narsingdi district unit, an associate organisation of the ruling Awami League, found a career in politics through her husband.
