Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in parliament has warned of stern action against The Daily Star for provoking militants through a photo published in the daily.
The premier made the warning while replying to a question in the House on Wednesday.
The daily published a poster of banned Hizb-ut Tahrir, with the caption "Fanatics raise their ugly head again" on February 11, 2015.
On February 15, a Judge Court lawyer filed a case against the editor and publisher of The Daily Star, Mahfuz Anam, and two others of the English daily for publishing the photograph.
The plaintiff alleged the photograph of the provocative statement published by the newspaper had hampered the peaceful situation in Bangladesh.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has chapters in many countries around the globe, started its activities in Bangladesh in 2000. The Awami League-led government banned the Islamist outfit on October 22, 2009.
The complainant brought a charge under sections 505 and 34 of the Penal Code against the newspaper’s Editor and Publisher Mahfuz Anam, Chief News Editor Syed Ashfaqul Haque, and Chief Photographer Sheikh Enamul Haque for “statements conducing to public mischief.”
Section 505 carries the highest seven years’ imprisonment with a nominal fine.
