3 men detained for 'promoting obscenity' on Facebook

Three men have been held on charges of promoting obscenity through Facebook group “Desperately Seeking Uncensored (DSU).” The trio – all administrators of the group – were detained from a flat at Panthapath on Wednesday following complaints lodged by Facebook-based group Justice for Women, Bangladesh (JFWBD), DMP Cyber Crime Prevention Unit Chief AC Nazmul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune. The police were looking into the allegations, he said. “If the charges are found to be valid, a case will be filed against them under the Pornography Act,” Nazmul added. The youths are Asia Pacific University student Zubair Ahmed, 21, Touhidul Islam Arnab, 19, and Asif Rana, 18. Police also seized computers and hard drivers from their possessions.

Meanwhile, in a press briefing at DMP media centre, Detective Branch Joint Commissioner Abdul Baten said it is a very popular facebook group. He identified the page founder as one Mohammad Raul Choudhury, an expatriate in Malaysia.

Recently, they leaked a scandalous video of a Dhaka Medical College student on their website www.dsu-bd.com. The video went viral with more than 1 lakh users of the Facebook page. Later, based on this allegations they arrested the three admins of the group.

He said the three were arrested when they were in a meeting at a flat near Panthapath. Investigators learned that some 18 to 20 people were involved with the group, he added.

Baten said the website was accused of showing pornographic videos. Measures had been taken to shut down the Facebook group and the website.

DSU is a closed group on Facebook that has around 124,000 members. The allegations say members of the DSU group promote pornographic contents, publish posts meant to demean women and make objectionable comments, and harass women on Facebook. On the other hand, JFWBD provides legal assistance and counselling to the victims of sexual harassment and violence against women, and works to create awareness against the menace. Wednesday's drive was conducted after key members of the JFWBD group recently submitted evidence of harassment and witness statements regarding the activities of DSU group to the Police Headquarters seeking legal action against the offenders.