The High Court has ordered the cancellation of a case filed against prominent photojournalist Shahidul Alam on Thursday.
The bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Tamanna Rahman Khalidi issued the ruling against the case which was filed against the photographer under Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act during the 2018 road safety protests.
Lawyers Sara Hossain, Zahid Iqbal, and Abdullah Alam Noman represented Dr Shahidul Alam in the case.
Shahidul Alam was arrested on August 5, 2018, after giving an interview to Al Jazeera during the student protests for safer roads and was accused of spreading “provocative and false” information under the ICT Act. On August 6, he was remanded in police custody. The same day, his bail petition was rejected by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court.
On September 11, 2018, the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Imrul Kayes also dismissed his bail application. Subsequently, Shahidul Alam filed a bail petition in the High Court on September 16, 2018. The High Court bench of Justice Sheikh Abdul Awal and Justice Bismadeb Chakraborty granted him bail on November 15, 2018.
Later, Shahidul Alam filed an application in the High Court for the cancellation of the case. On November 4, 2024, the High Court issued a rule on the matter.
There was widespread outcry regarding the photographer’s arrest, with Alam’s family and lawyer alleging that he was tortured in custody.
During the proceedings, Sara Hossain explained that the case against Shahidul Alam was filed in August 2018 under the ICT Act. However, the Digital Security Act was enacted later in October 2018, which stipulated that any ongoing investigations under Section 57 of the ICT Act, which had not been finalised, could no longer proceed under the previous law.
Since Shahidul Alam’s case was still under investigation at the time, it could not continue under the ICT Act.