HC: Submit all documents related to journo Ariful’s conviction, bail by March 23

The High Court has asked for the submission of all documents related to Dhaka Tribune Journalist Ariful Islam's conviction and bail by the next hearing.

The bench of Justice Md Ashraful Kamal and Justice Sardar Md Rashed Jahangir gave the order on Monday and set the next hearing date on March 23.

Supreme Court Bar Association President Advocate AM Aminuddin and Advocate Ishrat Hasan stood for the writ.

During the hearing, the court made a comment saying a single person does not represent the whole country. The state will not take the responsibility of someone’s mistake and that is what we want to see.

Moreover, the mass media is said to be the fourth pillar of the country. If it cannot work properly then the other pillars will become unstable, the court added.

On Sunday, the High Court ordered the state to submit before it a copy of the conviction and one-year imprisonment sentence, issued by a mobile court, of the journalist.

The bench passed the order after hearing a writ petition seeking its order to declare journalist Ariful's conviction illegal and asked the state to respond to five questions over the mobile court's judgment.

The next hearing date was set on Monday.

The court also asked Deputy Attorney General Debasish Bhattacharyya, who represented the state, to call Kurigram Deputy Commissioner (DC) Sultana Pervin personally and collect all the information by email before Monday’s hearing.

Earlier on Sunday, Advocate Ishrat Hasan filed the petition on behalf of online news portal Bangla Tribune's Executive Editor Harun-Ur-Rashid.

On March 14, Ariful, Kurigram district correspondent for Dhaka Tribune and Bangla Tribune, was sent to jail, soon after the mobile court, set up at the Kurigram DC's office, ended the trial proceedings.

The mobile court in the dead of night jailed the journalist for a year, after law enforcement members led by magistrates picked him up from his home in Kurigram town.

The mobile court brought an allegation against the journalist that drugs and alcohol were recovered from his possession, which his family termed absurd.