Ailing photojournalist Kajol denied bail yet again

A Dhaka court today rejected a bail petition of photojournalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol in a case filed under the Digital Security Act.

Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka passed the order after his lawyer submitted an appeal against the rejection order of the lower court.

Earlier on July 29, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka rejected Kajol's bail in the same case.

During today's hearing, Kajol's lawyer Md Jaydur Rahman told the court that his client has been suffering from various ailments including cardiac problems and hypertension. One of his hands too was paralysed and he is unable to see properly as he was blindfolded for 53 days.

As such, he should be granted bail, the lawyer added.

The prosecution, however, opposed the bail petition saying that he had committed offence by posting derogatory comments about Jubo League.

On March 11, Sumaiya Chowdhury Banna, a member of Bangladesh Jubo Mahila League's central committee, filed the case against Kajol with the capital's Kamrangirchar Police Station.

On May 3, 53 days into his disappearance, Kajol was found by Border Guard Bangladesh in Benapole. He was then arrested initially on charges of trespassing but was granted bail by a Jashore court.

However, that same evening, he was shown arrested under section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure after police informed the court that three more cases against Kajol were pending with different police stations in the capital.

The court then sent him to Jashore Jail. Later, he was shifted to the jail in Keraniganj.