Jhumon Das sued in DSA case 12 hrs after detention

After over 12 hours of detention over a Facebook post, Police sued Jhumon Das Apon in a case filed under Digital Security Act (DSA).

The case was filed by Sumonur Rahman, a sub-inspector of Shalla Police Station in Sunamganj, early Wednesday for “demeaning religion through his Facebook post”.

Around 11:30am Tuesday, Jhumon was detained from his village home at Noagaon in Shalla upazila.

Confirming the case, Shalla Police Station’s Officer-in-charge Aminul Islam said that Jhumon will be produced before a Sunamganj court later in the day showing him arrested in the DSA case.

After Jhumon’s detention, his wife Sweety Das claimed that her husband did not post anything on Facebook that demean any religion.

However, local police claimed that they detained him to avoid issues like March 17 last year.

Apparently, Jhumon had shared a viral photo from his personal Facebook account which showed a mosque donation box kept inside a Hindu temple. 

According to sources, the locals became very agitated after seeing Jhumon Das's post. 

Earlier on 15 March, Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh arranged a rally named 'Shan-e-Risalat Sammelan' in Sunamganj's Dirai upazila, where its former Ameer Junaid Babunagari and joint secretary general Manunul Haque delivered sermons. 

Following the rally, Jhumon Das posted a status on Facebook opining that Mamunul Haque's speech was disruptive to communal harmony, this was propagated as a derogatory comment against the Hefazat, and that led to mayhem in Noagaon village of Shalla upazila on 17 March.

During the mayhem, miscreants vandalised and looted about 90 Hindu houses.

Police detained Jhumon on 16 March to avoid a possible attack on the village, but the attempt went in vain. They showed Jhumon arrested under section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and produced him before a Sunamganj court on 17 March that sent him to jail.

He remained in jail ever since. The incident caused a stir across the country.  Thirty people were arrested in the next two days following the attack.

On 19 March, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) arrested Shahidul Islam, the mastermind of the attack.

Jhumon Das filed bail petitions in the trial court seven times and once in the High Court. Following the rejection of bail pleas multiple times, he filed a fresh plea seeking bail from the High Court and secured bail, says the petitioner's lawyer.

Back in September 2021, Jhumon had secured one year bail from the High Court in a case under the Digital Security Act, was released from jail. The HC granted Jhumon Das bail after hearing his bail plea.