BLAST employee secures bail in libel suit filed by BGB

Published at 08:01 am January 14th, 2021

Farzana Akhtar being escorted off a Cox's Bazar court premises Thursday afternoon, January 14, 2021 Dhaka Tribune

The court took the fact that my client is the victim into cognizance and granted her bail, says the defendant’s lawyer

Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) employee Farzana Akhtar has secured bail in the Tk100 crore defamation lawsuit filed by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in Cox's Bazar.

Cox's Bazar Senior Judicial Magistrate Tamanna Farah passed the order after Farzana appeared before the court with the bail plea at 12pm on Thursday.

Farzana’s lawyer Adv Abdu Sukkur said: “The court took the fact that my client is a victim of torture into cognizance and granted her bail. My client will be proven innocent in the case.”

Meanwhile, plaintiff lawyer, Adv Sajjadul Karim said: “The court can grant bail to the accused but that does not mean the case is closed. She will be proven guilty in court.”

The case was filed on November 10 by Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) Naib Subedar Md Ali Mollah, in-charge of the Damdamia check-post of Teknaf BGB 2 Battalion.

The BLAST employee, who was made the lone accused in the case, was summoned to court after police submitted their case investigation report on November 22.

Prior to the case, on October 8, Farzana was searched by BGB members at the check-post of Teknaf BGB 2 Battalion.

Later, she brought gang-rape allegation against the BGB members.

According to the case statement filed by BGB, the accused Farzana Akhtar severely tarnished the image of the BGB by springing up a false accusation of gang rape against its personnel.