A Dhaka court yesterday granted a fresh bail to national team cricketer Rubel Hossain in a rape case filed by film actress Naznin Akhtar Happy.
Judge Tanjina Ismail of Prevention of Women and Children Repression Tribunal-5 passed the order after the cricketer appeared before her court seeking fresh bail in the case.
Meanwhile, the complainant Happy filed a no-confidence (naraji) petition before the court rejecting a final report submitted by police in the case.
On April 6, police inspector Halima Khatun, also investigation officer (IO) in the case, submitted the final report appealing to the court to relieve Rubel from the charge.
The IO mentioned in the report that no evidence of rape by Rubel was found during the probe in the case; so, he may be acquitted from the allegation.
In the Sunday’s no-confidence petition, Happy mentioned that investigators did not interrogate the eight witnesses including her family members before preparing the final report.
So, she rejected the probe report and sought the court’s order for a further investigation into the matter.
However, the tribunal Judge fixed May 20 for hearing on the no-confidence naraji petition.
Actress Happy came into media focus after she filed a case with Mirpur police station on December 13 last year accusing Rubel of luring her into an affair with false promises of marriage.
The next day, the actress told media that she would withdraw the case if Rubel married her.
On December 24, a report by the DMC forensic department after conducting test of Happy said the actress was not raped.
On January 8, a Dhaka court sent Rubel Hossain to jail rejecting his bail petition on his surrender before the court in the case but he was granted bail in the case on January 11.
According to the case statement, Rubel promised Happy they would marry and had an affair that included physical relations for nine months. The couple was together as recently as December 1.