The High Court on Monday has granted an anticipatory bail to the editor of Bangla daily ‘Bangladesh Protidin’, Naem Nizam and its publisher Moynal Hossain Chowdhury in a defamation case.
According to media reports, Motahar Hossain Lalmonirhat, the president of Awami League and a former state minister for primary and mass education, had filed a defamation case with a local court for publishing a news report which went against him in the Bangla daily edited by Naem Nizam and published by Moynal Hossain Chowdhury in the month of April in 2014.
After hearing the bail petitions filed by Nizam and Chowdhury seeking bail in connection with the defamation case lodged by Awami League president Lalmonirhat, the High Court Bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Krishna Debnath granted the bail.
As per reports, ‘Bangladesh Protidin’ editor Nizam appeared before the HC bench on Monday.
It may be mentioned that a Lalmonirhat court had issued arrest warrants on January 2, 2018 against Nizam and Chowdhury in the defamation case.
In the case, former minister Motahar Hossain also named Lalmonihat correspondent of the daily, Rezaul Karim Manik, as one of the ‘accused’ in the connection with the story published on April 9, 2014 on the first page of the newspaper under the headline ‘Sabekder Amalnama: Ration Dealer Sabek Protimontri Motaharer Shato Koti Taka’.
‘Bangladesh Pratidin’, a daily Bengali-language, which was founded in 2010, tops the list of highest circulated dailies in Bangladesh out of 345 newspapers published from Dhaka and elsewhere, the Bangladesh Parliament was told by Information Minister on March 10, 2014. Its editor Nizam is a well-known and veteran journalist in Bangladesh. ‘Bangladesh Pratidin’ is a subsidiary of East-west media group which is owned by Bashundhara Group.
East West Media Group is a media conglomerate and is located in Bashundhara residential area in Dhaka. It is a subsidiary of Bashundhara Group.