Writ seeks action against cops for posting Shipra’s photos on Facebook

Published at 09:20 pm August 16th, 2020

Shipra Rani Devnath and Shahedul Islam Sifat speak before the media at a hotel in Cox’s Bazaar on Monday, August 10, 2020 Dhaka Tribune

Apart from police officers, several others have also been seen making similar posts and questioning her character

A writ petition has been filed with the High Court seeking action against two police officers who posted personal pictures of Shipra Debnath on Facebook. Shipra is a student of Stamford University and a crew member of slain Maj (retd) Sinha Md Rashed Khan.

Supreme Court lawyer, Barrister Monoj Kumar Bhowmik, filed the writ on Sunday, attaching newspaper reports on the matter.

The lawyer himself confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune.

According to the writ, on August 14, Satkhira’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohammad Mostafizur Rahman shared her personal photographs along with provocative comments on Facebook, casting doubt on her innocence.

Later, a similar post with photos was made by Mohammad Mizanur Rahman Shelley, an SP (Dhaka Metro-South) of the Police Bureau of Investigation, in which he also tried to justify the case filed against 25-year-old Shipra.

Apart from them, her family members told reporters, several other individuals had made similar posts on Facebook, questioning her character.

The Digital Security Act’s Section 29 (1) strictly mentions that if a person commits an offence of publication or broadcasts defamatory information as described in Section 499 of the Penal Code (Act XLV of 1860) on any website or in any other electronic format, then they will be sentenced to a term of imprisonment not exceeding three years, or fines not exceeding Tk5 lakh.

Section 29 (2) also says that if any person commits the aforementioned offence a second time or repeatedly, they will be sentenced to a term of imprisonment not exceeding five) years, or a fine not exceeding Tk10 lakh, or both.

Maj (retd) Sinha was killed in police firing at the Baharchhara police check-post in Teknaf, Cox’s ,on the night of July 31.

His older sister, Sharmin Shahriar Ferdous, later filed a case with the Teknaf Senior Judicial Magistrate Court over the killing, against a number of policemen of Teknaf police station.

Shipra and Shahedul Islam Sifat, another companion of Sinha, were arrested after police filed separate cases against them. Sifat was released on bail last Monday.

Shipra was arrested in a case filed on charges of possessing liquor and marijuana. Shipra was later released on bail last Sunday amid widespread protests.