Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman was injured in an attack allegedly by Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) men on the court premises here on Sunday.
The attack was carried out after a court granted him bail in a defamation case filed against him for making derogatory remarks about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Tulip Siddiq.
Witnesses and BNP leaders said a group of BCL leaders and activists, led by the district unit president, took position outside the courtroom hearing that Mahmudur was granted bail in the case.
They confined him to the courtroom around 4pm and chanted slogans against him, according to BNP.
As Mahmudur tried to get into his car at one stage, the attackers hurled brick chips at the vehicle forcing him to take shelter in the room of lawyer Shams Tanim Mukti.
Later, the BNP leaders said, the BCL men stormed the room and swooped on him around 4:30 pm. They beat him mercilessly, leaving him injured.
At one stage, police rescued Mahmudur and sent him to a Jashore hospital by an ambulance.
He reached Dhaka via Jashore around 8pm and was admitted to United Hospital around 9pm, said BNP assistant publication secretary Shamimur Rahman.
Earlier in the day, Kushtia Senior Judicial Magistrate MM Morshed granted him permanent bail in the defamation case filed by district BCL President Yasir Arafat Tushar on December 10, 2017.
Meanwhile, the district BCL president denied the allegation of attack. “We only staged demonstrations against Mahmudur Rahman. But we didn’t launch any attack on him. No one of our activists was involved in the attack,” Tushar said.
On December 1 last year, Mahmudur took part in a seminar on restoration of democracy and the role of media organised by Bangladesh Democratic Council at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka.
The journalist at the programme allegedly made derogatory comments about Bangabandhu and Hasina.
Later, several cases were filed against Mahmudur Rahman in different districts for making the ‘derogatory remarks’. source: unb.
Bd24live/Hk