A young man named Bapon Das has been sentenced to eight years in prison in a case filed under the Digital Security Act in Bhola for spreading obscene remarks on Facebook about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The court also awarded him two more years in prison for non-payment of a fine of Tk400,000.
Judge Golam Farooq of the Barisal Divisional Cyber Tribunal announced the verdict on Sunday afternoon. Bapon was in the dock.
Special Public Prosecutor of Barisal Divisional Cyber Tribunal Ishtiaq Ahmed Rubel confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune.
On October 25, 2019, a young man named Biplob Chandra Vaidya alias Shuvo, 25, a resident of Borhan Uddin Upazila of Bhola, sent a message to some Facebook friends with derogatory remarks on Allah and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and shared some pictures.
Protests erupted in the area the next day and four people were killed in clashes with the police.
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Later that night, Biplob Vaidya came to Borhanuddin police station to file a general diary (GD) saying that his Facebook account had been hacked. Police detained Biplob Vaidya for questioning.
Based on information gleaned from him, police arrested Emon, 18, and Kamrul Islam Sharif, 18, from Patuakhali.
The then SI of Borhanuddin police station, Delwar Hossain, filed the case against three persons including Emon and Kamrul under Digital Security Act.
The case was handed over to the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) on January 17, 2020.
After that, the case was investigated by Mahfuzur Rahman, an inspector of PBI in Barisal.
According to the forensic report of the seized mobile phones and other devices, the allegations brought against Emon, Kamrul, and Biplob were found false.
PBI later found that Bapon Das, 25, son of Bikash Das of Chachua village in Itna Upazila of Kishoreganj, had hacked the Facebook account of Biplob and spread the texts.
Police then arrested Bapon, who later gave a confessional statement before the court.
Bapon, a professional hacker, only wanted to put Biplob in danger as he was not getting any money from the latter.
On August 1, 2020, police filed the charge sheet against Bapon Das.