Two cases have been started against former state minister Murad Hassan in Rajshahi and Sylhet for his obscene remarks on BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s granddaughter.
One AKM Saiful Islam, a lawyer filed, a case with the Rajshahi Cyber Tribunal under the Digital Security Act on Sunday.
The other person accused in the case is Mohammad Mohiuddin Helal Nahid, who is better known by his social media moniker NahidRains.
Advocate Ismat Ara, public prosecutor at the tribunal, said the court has accepted the case and is set to issue further orders at the next hearing.
In Sylhet, Advocate Tanvir Akter Khan, organizing secretary of the Sylhet unit of Pr-BNP Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, filed a case with the Sylhet Cyber Tribunal under the ICT Act.
The tribunal will hold a hearing in the case on Wednesday, said Advocate Obaidur Rahman Fahmi, member of the forum’s central committee.
Disgraced former state minister for information and broadcasting Murad left Bangladesh for Canada on an Emirates flight early on Friday.
However, he is reportedly returning home, having failed to enter Canada and then the UAE.
Murad made some obscene remarks about Khaleda’s granddaughter and women in general in an interview on social media. Murad reportedly shared the interview taken by Nahid, who streamed it live on Facebook.
Amid mounting criticism against Murad for his remarks, an audio clip of a phone conversation began to circulate on social media, in which Murad was heard hurling abuses at and threatening to rape actor Mahiya Mahi.
On December 7, Murad stepped down as state minister on the prime minister’s order amid the whirlwind of controversy.
The Awami League has since stripped the Jamalpur lawmaker of his posts in the party’s local units.
Our Rajshahi Correspondent Dulal Abdullah and Sylhet Correspondent Md Serajul Islam provided inputs for this report