Shawdesh Desk;

Cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore has secured bail for six months in a case lodged against him under Digital Security Act (DSA).

The High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman accepted his bail plea on Wednesday.

The court granted the bail on the ground that he has been languishing in jail for 10 months and investigation into the allegation against him continues .

Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua took part in the hearing for the petition, while Deputy Attorney General Sarwar Hossain Bappi stood for the state.

Earlier on February 28, a lower court concerned had scrapped a plea of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes (CTTC) unit of the police to take Kishore in remand in the case.

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) filed the case against 11 people on May 5, 2020, on charges of spreading anti-state falsehood to tarnish the image of Bangladesh and create confusion from a Facebook page.

The 11 accused in the case are Ahmed Kabir Kishore, Rashtrachinta coordinator Didarul Bhuiyan, Minhaj Mannan, Tasnim Khalil, Sahed Alam, Asif Mohiuddin, Zulkarnain Shayer Khan alias Sami, Ashik Imran, Swapan Wahid, Philip Shumakher and writer Mushtak Ahmed, who died in jail recently.

Earlier on January 13, police filed the charge-sheet against cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, Rashtrachinta coordinator Didarul Bhuiyan and writer Mushtak Ahmed.

Police, however, excluded names of eight accused Minhaj Mannan, Tasnim Khalil, Sahed Alam, Asif Mohiuddin, Sami, Ashik Imran, Swapan Wahid and Philip Shumakher from the charge-sheet, saying the allegations brought against them have not been proved.

On February 10, Bangladesh Cyber Tribunal had ordered CTTC to further investigate the case and submit the report.

The court had come up with the order, allowing a prosecution plea to further investigate the case. The prosecution on February 9 also filed naraji (no confidence) petition against the charge-sheet for dropping names of eight accused.