HC grants anticipatory bail to Prof Karzon in DSA case

The High Court on Thursday granted anticipatory bail to Dhaka University professor Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Karzon for eight weeks in a case filed under the Digital Security Act.

A division bench of justices Jahangir Hossain Selim and Md Atoar Rahman passed the order while hearing his bail plea during a virtual hearing and also asked the law professor to surrender before the tribunal hearing the case by this period.

Barrister Omar Farooq appeared for the professor in the court while Deputy Attorney General Sarwar Hossain Bappi represented the state.

On July 22 last year, Prof Karzon wrote a post on Facebook that stoked a major controversy, forcing him to subsequently remove the same. He had also apologised for “hurting the religious sentiments of people”.

However, on August 1, Amit Bhowmik, the general secretary of the central committee of the Bangladesh Hindu Juba Parishad, filed a case against Prof Karzon under the Digital Security Act alleging that his post had hurt the religious sentiments of people.