The High Court on Tuesday directed Bangladesh’s telecom regulator to take necessary steps to remove all objectionable audios and videos of State Minister for Information Murad Hassan from social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube.
A division bench of Justices M Enayetur Rahim and Md Mostafizur Rahman gave the order to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and also asked Deputy Attorney General Bipul Bagmar to submit an action-taken report by Wednesday morning, in the wake of a plea by a leading Supreme Court lawyer.
In his petition, barrister Syed Sayedul Haque Suman claimed that such “indecent, obscene audios and videos can have adverse effects on the society”.
“The responsible agencies of the government should have removed these contents but as they did not, I’ve sought the High Court’s direction in public interest,” he said in his plea.
During a recent social media interview, the junior Minister made “derogatory” remarks on opposition BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his daughter Zaima Rahman.
Meanwhile, a two-year-old phone conversation of the Minister with actor Mamnun Hasan Emon and actress Mahiya Mahi recently went viral on social media. In that audio clip, Murad made “derogatory comments” on the actress, threatened her and gave her an indecent proposal.
On Monday night, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked Murad to resign from the cabinet by Tuesday over his recent derogatory remarks on social media, according to Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader.
BNP on Monday demanded that the Minister give a public apology and withdraw his “politically motivated, racial and derogatory” remarks against women and the Zia family.
