A Dhaka court on Tuesday sent Barrister Mainul Hosein, former adviser to a caretaker government, to jail rejecting his bail petition in a defamation case filed on charge of slandering female journalist Masuda Bhatti in a television programme.
Judge of the Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Dhaka, Tofazzal Hossain, passed the order after hearing his bail petition.
Advocate Golam Mostofa, Advocate Aminul Islam and Advocate Mohiuddin Chowdhury appeared in the court on behalf of Barrister Mainul Hosein.
Masuda Bhatti filed the case in the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate on October 21, 2018.
Barrister Mainul got ad-interim bail from the High Court on October 21, 2018 in the case.
Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court also followed the High Court on May 12 this year.
In the mean time, the government appealed against the High Court order and after hearing the Appellate Division on August 21, 2019 directed Barrister Mainul Hosein to surrender in the trial court. Following the Appellate Division order, he surrendered in the trial court on Tuesday.
In the hearing, Advocate Golam Mostofa said, "It's a bailable case and he (Barrister Mainul) didn't misuse the bail granted earlier. So we pray for his bail."
On October 16, 2018, Mainul, also the publisher and editorial board chief of The New Nation newspaper, called Masuda a person of "loose character" during a talk show on Ekattor TV. He was connected through video conference.
He made the comment after Masuda asked him, "Many are commenting that you are in the alliance [Jatiya Oikyafront] as a representative of Jamaat-e-Islami … Is this true?"
Mainul's remarks on Masuda sparked protest.
He later apologised to Masuda over the phone and also issued a statement on this.
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