A Dhaka court has fixed Sunday to hear a petition seeking to formally arrest journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol in a Digital Security Act case filed with Kamrangirchar police station.
After a 53-day disappearance, Kajol turned up in police custody on May 3 after the border guards arrested him on charges of illegal trespassing on the Benapole border in Jessore. He has been in jail since then.
He went missing after leaving his office on March 10, a day after the ruling party lawmaker from Magura-1 filed a Digital Security case against him and 31 others on charges of publishing a report with "false information".
The second case, by a leader of an Awami League affiliate, was filed the next day.
Kajol has already been arrested and remanded in the case filed by the lawmaker.
On July 22, Detective Branch Sub-Inspector Md Rasel Mollah moved a petition with the court to formally arrest him in the second case filed by Sumaiya Chowdhury Banna, a member of Bangladesh Jubo Mahila League's Central Committee.
The court of Metropolitan Magistrate Baki Billah is set to hear the petition on Sunday through videoconferencing. Kajol will attend the hearing virtually from the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj.