Journalist Probir Sikdar acquitted from ICT case

Journalist Probir Sikdar acquitted from ICT case

A Dhaka court has acquitted journalist Probir Sikdar of charges of defaming former minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain brought under the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Act.

On Thursday, Judge Md Ash-Shams Jaglul Hossein of the Cyber Crimes Tribunal delivered the verdict in the case filed six years ago, which accused Probir of defaming the then LGRD minister and Faridpur MP Khandker Mosharraf Hossain through a Facebook post

Plainclothes police picked Probir Sikdar, who is the editor of Bangla daily "Bangla 71" and online newspaper "Uttoradhikar 71 News," on August 16, 2015.

Hours later, Faridpur Awami League leader Swapan Kumar Paul filed the case with Kotwali police over a Facebook post by Probir under the ICT Act.

The senior journalist, known for his investigative reports on war criminals, claimed in a Facebook post on August 12 that several gangs had been kept ready in Dhaka and Faridpur “to teach me a good lesson.”

Two days later, he said that three persons and their supporters would be responsible if anything happened to him.

The three persons were the then LGRD minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, business tycoon Moosa bin Shamsher and fugitive war crimes convict Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar.

His reports on Moosa, also known as Nula Moosa during the 1971 war, and Bachchu Razakar were published in the daily Janakantha in 2001 under a series of reports called “Shei Razakar” describing the status of those who collaborated with Pakistani forces in 1971.

Following this, Probir came under attack by unknown miscreants and his leg had to be amputated. He published the report on Musa in his online portal u71news.com on July 17 and shared it on Facebook several times before the arrest.

In July the same year, he went to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station to file a general diary seeking security. But, Inspector (Investigation) Sabbir Ahmed refused to take the GD saying that instead, he would deploy a sub-inspector for protection. Three days later, SI Abdul Jalil met Probir at his Indira Road office.

Police pressed charges against him on March 15, 2016, and the cyber tribunal indicted him on August 4 the same year.

mj