YouTuber Ashraful Hossen Alom, popularly known as Hero Alom, has filed a defamation case of Tk50 crore against BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
He came to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Dhaka at 12pm on Monday to sue the BNP leader.
Four people have been made witnesses in the application of the case.
The court accepted the statement of the plaintiff and directed the Detective Branch (DB) of police to investigate the case. It also fixed September 13 as the date for submitting the investigation report.
After filing the case, Hero Alom said: “Rizvi is my father's age, he should be pardoned. Humans make mistakes, that's why I didn't want to sue. However, to ensure that in the future, no one from Awami League-BNP should speak against me, I had to file the case. I will not spare anyone who abuses me in the future.”
On Sunday, Alom, who vowed to sue Rizvi for reportedly making slanderous comments, returned from the court without filing any case.
He also met the chief of the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Harun-ur-Rashid, to report Rizvi’s comments.
Hero Alom then said he will file a case against them at the court.
In a recent video that went viral on social media, Rizvi at a press conference was heard saying that Hero Alom was a “half-educated” and “crazy” person.
Reacting to it, Hero Alom later published a video on his social media account and slammed Rizvi for his words.
The content creator said: “I don’t want to speak against anyone. But this is very sad. I’ve seen the video of BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi calling me crazy. He has also questioned my educational qualifications.
“I have the right to contest in elections. Nowhere in the law does it say that you have to have certain educational qualifications or that you have to look good?
“I’ve contested in three elections. This means the Election Commission did not allow a mad person to run polls after thorough scrutiny."
Hinting at BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, he said: “I’m uneducated but their party chief is just a class eight graduate.”
He has also urged politicians not to demean him.
The DB chief said their cybercrime unit received a complaint from Hero Alom.
“The complaint was sent to me later on. Hero Alom’s allegation is a case of defamation, which the DB can’t handle and it needs to be moved at court,” he said.
Hero Alom has recently been at the focus of political discussion after being assaulted while leaving a polling station in the Banani area during the Dhaka-17 by-polls last month.
He contested the election as an independent candidate.
The physical assault on Hero Alom was strongly condemned by political parties as well as diplomats stationed in Dhaka, and human rights organizations.
A regular face in the news for the last few years, Hero Alom previously contested in the by-elections to Bogra-4 and -6 constituencies. In the Bogra-4 seat, he was defeated by a mere 834 votes.
Before the 11th parliamentary election, Hero Alom bought nomination papers for the Bogra-4 constituency from the Jatiya Party, but did not get its nod. He also participated in local government elections but never won.
