Court summons Farhad Mazhar, wife Farida Akhter

A Dhaka court has summoned poet and columnist Farhad Mazhar, and his wife Farida Akhter in a case filed for allegedly starting a case by providing false information. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shubhroto Gosh Shubho passed the order on Sunday, after taking the charges into cognizance. The court asked Farhad and his wife to appear before it on January 30. On December 28, Detective Branch (DB) of Police Inspector Mahbubul Alam filed the case, accusing the couple of bringing in false charge of offence in connection with the Farhad’s alleged abduction. The case was filed under sections 109 and 111 of Bangladesh Penal Code. On November 14, DB Inspector Mahbubul Islam, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, submitted the final report of the case with a Dhaka court mentioning that they did not find any proof of abduction. The final report also called for taking action under sections 109 and 111 of the penal code against Farhad Mazhar and his wife for filing a “false” case of abduction. Later, during a hearing on December 7, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Khurshid Alam ordered police to file a case. On July 3, family members claimed that Farhad Mazhar had been kidnapped by unidentified men from Dhaka’s Adabar during early hours of the day. Later, police found him in an inter-district bus in Jessore around 11:30pm on the same day while he was returning to Dhaka from Khulna. His wife filed the case with Adabar police station the same day. Later, the case was transferred to the Detective Branch of police. Two days after the order on December 9, the vocal columnist claimed at a press conference that the confession he made to a Dhaka court in October about his abduction was not his own words, rather he was “pressured” to do so.