JnU Student Khadija’s Bail Suspended for 4 Months in DSA Cases

The Appellate Division on Monday suspended bail of Jagannath University student Khadijatul Kubra for another four months in two cases under the Digital Security Act(DSA).

An Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order, reports UNB.

Advocate BM Elias Kachee and Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua stood for Khadija, while Assistant Attorney General Saiful Alam represented the state.

Khadija was granted bail by the High Court on February 16 in two Digital Security Act cases. The state filed petition challenging the bail.

During the hearing, Khadija's lawyer Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua argued that she was not accountable for the opinions expressed by guests in videos on her YouTube channel.

The Appellate Division responded that Khadija, “as a first-year honours student, should be able to accept responsibility for the opinions aired on her talk show program.”

In October 2020, police filed two cases against Khadija and retired Maj Delowar Hossain at the Kalabagan and New Market Police Stations for 'spreading anti-government propaganda and harming Bangladesh's reputation.'

The allegations in the two cases filed a week apart, were similar.

Police arrested Khadija on September 17, 2022. She has been imprisoned since then.

According to the case details, Khadija and Delowar conspired to broadcast false, fabricated, and defamatory propaganda about the Prime Minister, various government agencies, and senior state officials in order to oust the country's legitimate administration. They were aiming to destroy communal harmony through their conspiracy by promoting enmity, hatred, and division among various communities, it said.

Khadija was 17 when the cases were filed under the Digital Security Act in 2020, but the case was filed showing her as an adult, according to her lawyer. Despite having kidney disease, Khadija's bail petitions were repeatedly denied by a Dhaka court, he said.