The High Court has granted bail to Eklashpur Union Ward 9 member Moazzem Hossain Sohag, one of the accused in a case filed over beating and violating a woman and spreading video of her being stripped naked at Begumganj upazila of Noakhali last year.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman granted the bail on Sunday, reports Bangla Tribune.
Earlier, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) formally charged 14 people in the case. Of the accused, four remain absconding.
On September 2, 2020, a criminal gang forced into the woman’s house, tied up her husband in the next room and tried to rape her. When she defended herself, they stripped her naked, beat her up, violated and video recorded the whole thing – which later went viral on social media.
The police reportedly came to know about the incident only after the tortured woman filed two cases under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act with Begumganj police station, 33 days after the incident.
On October 5, 2020, the High Court ordered the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to take adequate steps to remove the video from social media.
According to the video and locals, five people – Delowar, Badal, Kalam, Abdur Rahim and an unnamed youth, all members of the criminal gang Delowar Bahini -- stripped the woman naked and brutally tortured her in broad daylight.
