A Dhaka court on Wednesday granted bail to three journalists, including the editor and publisher of Bangla daily Manobkantha and the editor of dhakatimes24.com, in a defamation case.
Metropolitan magistrate Asaduzzaman Nur granted bail after hearing the petitions.
Shajahan Sarder, editor of Manobkantha, its publisher Jakaria Chowdhury, and Arifur Rahman, editor of dhakatimes24.com, surrendered before the court with separate bail petitions by their counsel Anowarul Kabir Babul.
Plaintiff Abdul Latif Siddique, Minister of Jute and Textiles, on May 22 filed a defamation case against four people, including two journalists, for publishing a “baseless” report.
The plaintiff said the media houses published a false report in their publications.
The same court on May 22 summoned them to appear before court on June 23.
The case statement said dhakatimes24.com published a report on May 17 that defamed the minister.
Manobkantha published the same story on May 19.