Hridoy Chandra Mandal, a schoolteacher from Munshiganj, who was arrested on charges of hurting religious sentiment in the classroom, was finally granted bail.
Additional District Judge Motahar Akhtar Bhuiyan, acting judge of the Munshiganj District and Sessions Judge's Court, granted him bail on Sunday.
Lawyer Siraj Islam Paltu represented the state in the court.
Lawyers Shaheen Mohammad Amanullah, Milton Bose, Saidur Rahman, Pankaj Barai, Milton Bose, Abul Al Mamun, Moniruzzaman Monir, Dipu Chakraborty, Abhishek Chakraborty, Pradeep Pal, Gobinda Mandal, Jitendra Chandra Barman, Abdur Rahman, Nikhil Chandra Mandal, Promod Chakraborty, Ayesha Akhtar Bakul, Mamunur Rashid, Apu Biswas, Golam Maula Tapan, Shahid E Hasan Tuhin and many others argued in favour of Hridoy Chandra Mandal.
After the hearing, Hridoy Mandal’s lawyer Shaheen Mohammad Amanullah said that justice has been served.
“The court, after reviewing the documents, granted the bail on a bond of Tk 5,000. Hridoy Mandal has regained his rights. We think the judge has given a fair verdict to establish a fair trial. The insidious group who wanted to drive this country towards militancy could not endanger a science teacher like Hriday Mandal centring the issues of religion,” he said.
According to case history, Hridoy Mandal was discussing science with the students in an unscheduled class of 10th grade on March 20. During the class a student asked him some questions comparing religion with science.
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Hridoy responded to them. One of the students in the class recorded the discussion on his mobile phone and spread it. Two days later, some students and local people started a movement against Hridoy Mandal. Later, the police went to the spot and took him to the police station. The school authorities temporarily suspended him.
Later that night, school office assistant Md Asad being the plaintiff filed a case against Hridoy alleging charges of hurting religious sentiments. Hridoy Mandal was shown arrested in that case.
Hridoy applied for bail in the Munshiganj Judicial Magistrate's Court on March 28, which was rejected.
Later on Monday, the District and Sessions Judge's Court also denied his bail and fixed Sunday (April 10) for the bail hearing.
After the hearing on Sunday, the court granted bail to Hridoy Mandal.
Hridoy Mandal came out of Munshiganj jail on Sunday afternoon after staying in jail for 19 days and said that the charges against him were false.
“I want security from the state. I cannot say for sure now, but this could happen due to issues regarding private tutoring,” he said.
When asked about what he thought was the reason behind keeping him in jail so long, he said, “Maybe they kept me in jail for my safety. There are some misguided students who do not study. They have done it together with misguided teachers. I cannot name anyone at the moment.”
He further mentioned that he was teaching science in class that day.
“They were intentionally questioning me about religious issues. I did not say anything that cause a problem. I did not understand that they were recording my class on mobile,” he added.