Journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol, who was missing for 53 days before turning up at Sadipur border area at Benapole early Sunday, has been sent to jail in a case filed under section 54 of the Digital Security Act.
Jashore Judicial Magistrate Court Judge Md Manjurul Islam passed the order and sent him to jail in a case filed with Kotwali Police Station.
Earlier, Kajal secured bail in another case filed against him by the members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) with Benapole Police Station over ‘illegal trespassing’ into Bangladesh from India.
The journalist was also facing three more cases filed under Digital Security Act in Dhaka, said Kajal’s lawyer Debashis Das’s assistant junior advocate Sudipto Ghosh.
Sub-Inspector Santoshkumar Bishwas, in-charge of court prison, said Kajal was sent to Jashore Central Jail in the evening.
Earlier, BGB men claimed to have found Kajol, editor of Dainik Pokkhokal, who was last seen coming out of his office at Hatirpool in the capital on March 10.
Raghunathpur BGB filed a case with Benapole Port Police Station against Kajol on charge of illegal trespassing into Bangladesh from India.
A day after Kajol’s disappearance, Kajol’s wife, Julia Ferdousi Nayan, filed a general diary on March 11 and demanded the authorities concerned ensure his safe return at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club on March 13.
On March 22, the Amnesty International urged the authorities to immediately disclose the fate and whereabouts of the journalist and release him "if he is under state custody" without any further delay.
In the video, released by Amnesty International on Twitter, some unidentified men were also seen tampering with his motorcycle outside his office.
Meanwhile, Article 19, a UK based human rights organization, the Amnesty International and few other national and international organizations expressed concern regarding Kajol's disappearance.
I am alive, says Kajol
The journalist's son, Monorom Polok, said an individual identifying himself as Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Obaidul, duty officer at the Benapole port police station, called him at 2:48am on Sunday and informed him his father was under police custody.
Polok said hee [the ASI] asked me to come to the police station.
"My father expressed his gratitude to the Almighty, saying 'I am alive.'"
Polok, however, informed the matter to Chawkbazar police station and also talked to Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Assistant Commissioner (Chawkbazar zone) Elias Hossain, who also confirmed the journalist's detention.
Later, he started for Benapole to meet Kajol.
Case filed under Digital Security Act
The journalist went missing on March 10, a day after a case was filed by Saifuzzaman Shikhor, ruling party lawmaker for Magura 1, with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station in Dhaka.
Kajol and 30 others, including Manabzamin Editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, were accused in the case filed under the Digital Security Act (DSA) for publishing and sharing a news article on social media regarding expelled Jubo Mohila League leader Shamima Noor Papia.
Kajol's disappearance came a day after Saifuzzaman Shikhor -- a ruling party lawmaker from Magura-1 -- filed a case against him and 31 others on charge of publishing a report with "false information" and circulating it on social media.
Kajol's family filed a general diary with the Chawkbazar police station in the capital on March 11 and later filed a case on March 18 with the same police station regarding the disappearance.
Nearly two weeks after Kajol's disappearance, a security camera video emerged on March 22, which showed Kajol being followed before his disappearance.
