Kader Siddique cannot contest Tangail by-polls after HC scraps petition

The High Court has scrapped a petition filed by Kader Siddique, putting an end to his chances of contesting in the Tangail-4 by-polls.

Thursday’s verdict also meant there were no legal hurdles to holding the election, the Election Commission’s lawyer has said.

The Krishak Sramik Janata League (KSJL) president had filed the petition against the commission’s decision to cancel his nomination.

Justices Md Ashfaqul Islam and Zafar Ahmed announced the verdict after ruling that the writ filed by Siddique was not acceptable for the High Court.

Broadcast Law in June: Inu

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu on Thursday said the draft of a ‘Broadcast Law’ will be placed at the next session of Parliament in June after getting clearance from Cabinet.
The minister disclosed the information while talking to reporters at the secretariat after a meeting with a UNDP official.
“We will get the draft of the law within next two weeks,” Inu said.
After getting the copy of the draft, it will be opened to public for feedback and opinions, he said.
The minister also said the law would come into effect in the light of “National Broadcast Policy 2014”, and an independent broadcast commission would also be installed under the new law.
Inu said his ministry was going to arrange a two-day media convention where journalists from across the country are expected to participate.
During the convention, journalists will be urged to play significant roles to save democracy and to work against militancy and terrorism, said the minister.
Earlier, Inu joined a meeting with Resident Representative of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Robert D Watkins.
Inu said UNDP has proposed to train journalists to play a role to deal with earthquake.
The UNDP has also offered to increase the aptitudes of the Community Radios, Inu said.

Tea-seller burnt in 'police attack' dies in Dhaka hospital

A tea-seller in Dhaka has died from burns after police allegedly attacked him, causing an oil spill from a stove.

Babul Matubbor, of Mirpur’s Shah Ali area, was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after he was brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital at around 1:30am Thursday.

The 45-year-old had suffered 90% burns, said Burn Unit doctor Partha Sankar Pal.

Babul was attacked by policemen who demanded that he give them money, his family has said.

But police claimed Babul was a drug dealer who had burnt himself while trying to run away from them.

Babul lived in a house near his tea-shop at Mirpur-1 Gudaraghat, his daughter-in-law Moni Begum told bdnews24.com.

She said two women sold marijuana in front of Babul’s shop. “Police harassed us in various ways when my father-in-law complained about them.”

A couple of policemen tried to take Babul away to Shah Ali Police Station at noon on Wednesday, she said.

“They came to extort money from him at night. But when he refused to pay up, several of them wearing police uniforms hit the stove in the shop with their batons.”

Babul’s jacket caught fire when oil splashed out of the stove, she said.

“I was there … I saw everything with my own eyes.”

Meanwhile, Shah Ali Police Station OC AKM Shahin Mondol said, “Babul is a drug dealer. He tried to run away when our source Delwar went to his shop at night. His body then caught fire from the stove.”

“A police team went there after learning of the fire,” he said, brushing aside allegations of extortion.

AL MP Latif sued for distorting Bangabandhu’s portrait

MA Latif, the Awami League lawmaker from Chittagong-11 constituency, has been sued for distorting the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Saifuddin Ahmed Robi, a former central committee member of AL’s youth front Jubo League, filed the Tk 1,000 crore defamation suit with Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court today, reports the Bangla daily Prothom Alo.

Taking the case into cognisance, Judge Farid Ahmed ordered an additional deputy police commissioner to investigate the matter and submit the report by the next 15 days.

According to the case statement, Latif has made a poster in which he has put his head on the portrait of Bangabandhu.

“The AL lawmaker has mocked the father of the nation by this act. I have lodged the case as a conscious citizen of the country,” Robi said.

Transport owners to be punished for road crashes: Quader

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today held transport owners responsible for road crashes and indiscipline in the sector.

“They (owners) too are responsible for road crashes. That’s why we are going to bring them under purview of punishment,” he told reporters while visiting a mobile court at Dhaka’s Agargaon.

“We have drafted a new road transport law. There, transport owners will be brought to book for road crashes and indiscipline in the sector,” Quader told reporters.

As per the existing Road Transport Act, only drivers are held responsible and punished also for road accidents and indiscipline in public transport sector, he said.

Loss of lives in road crashes has become a nightmare for Bangladesh. Last year alone, more than 8,500 people were killed in road crashes throughout the country.

On the note of jam in the Dhaka, Quader underscored the need for collective efforts of city corporations, public works ministry and police department to reduce the plight of commuters.

Central Hospital fire brought under control

A fire that broke out at the basement of Central

Fire fighters working to douse a fire that broke out at the basement of Central Hospital on Green Road in the capital. Photo: Star

Hospital on Dhaka’s Green Road this afternoon was brought under control within an hour.

No injury was reported as all the patients were evacuated, said an official of the hospital.

The fire originated inside the basement around 1:30pm, Polash Chandra Morol, duty officer of Fire Service and Civil Defence, told The Daily Star.

On information, seven firefighting units reached the spot and brought the fire under control around 2:30pm, he said. The reason for the fire could not be ascertained immediately.

Maharashtra Governor's nod to CBI to prosecute ex-CM Ashok Chavan

In a major embarrassment to the opposition Congress, Maharashtra Governor CV Rao here on Thursday accorded sanction to the CBI to prosecute former chief minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh Society scam.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), through its letter dated October 8, 2015, sought the governor`s sanction to prosecute Chavan under Section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code after “fresh incriminating material” was allegedly found against Chavan.

Chavan is currently a Lok Sabha member from Maharashtra and chief of the state unit of the Congress party.

CBI included a report by a two-member Commission of Inquiry, comprising Justice J.A. Patil (retd) and former chief secretary P. Subramanian, besides Bombay High Court observations in a criminal revision application filed in 2014.

Accordingly, Rao granted the sanction to prosecute Chavan under Section 197 of CrPC and Sections 120-B and 420 of the Indian Penal Code in the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society case.

The Maharashtra cabinet, at a meeting last week presided over by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, recommended to the governor to accord the sanction.

In its report, the commission of inquiry had indicted four former chief ministers — Chavan, late Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sushilkumar Shinde and Shivajirao Nilangekar-Patil, also revenue minister at the relevant time — besides several top bureaucrats and other officials for their role in the high-profile scam.

The commission was set up in January 2011. However, its report and recommendations were rejected by the then Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in December 2013.

Modi should not join war against ISIS; SP govt ignoring Muslims in UP: Asaduddin Owaisi

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi attacked the ruling Samajwadi Party and the BJP for ignoring ‘Muslims and the downtrodden’ in Uttar Pradesh during his first rally in the state.

Coming down heavily on the ruling party, the AIMIM chief said, ”The poor are dying, farmers are in penury here, but neither the SP nor BJP cares about them.”

Owaisi also criticised SP for not fulfilling its promise of providing reservation to poor Muslims in UP.

Shifting his focus to dreaded terrorist outfit Islamic State, the AIMIM leader said that he and his party has nothing to do with ISIS.

”We condemn ISIS. We have no connection whatsoever with ISIS,” Owaisi said.

However, he also warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to join international community’s war against the ISIS.

”Modiji should not think of sending forces to fight ISIS. That is not our war,” Owaisi said while addressing his supporters in the Faizabad district of UP.

Condemning PM Modi’s recent Lahore visit, he said, ”The way PM met his counterpart in Lahore it was as if two separated brothers are meeting.”

This was his first rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Faizabad ahead of the February 13 Bikapur bypoll.

The AIMIM, which is planning to stake a huge claim in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls of 2017, is willing to create a “Dalit-Muslim vote bank”.

“My focus will be on Samajwadi Party which has betrayed both Dalits and Muslims,” the AIMIM chief had said earlier.

Owaisi’s party had made its agenda clear when it declared Pradeep Kumar Kori, a Dalit, as its Bikapur candidate for the upcoming bypolls here.

Tanzanian student was not stripped, Bengaluru incident not a 'racial attack': Karnataka home minister

The Karnataka government on Thursday said that it was seriously probing the brutal assault on a Tanzanian student while assuring full safety of foreign students staying in the stte capital.

Addressing a press conference, G Parmeshwara, Karnataka Home Minister said, ”We are taking this case very seriously,” adding, ”There are 12,000 foreign students in Bengaluru, their protection is our foremost duty. These kind of incidents should not happen.”

Explaining the sequence of events that ked to the brutal assault on the African student, Parmeshwara said, ”Had the Sudanese man not killed someone in the accident maybe this incident would not have happened.”

A man called Sanaullah and his wife were hit by a car driven by a Sudanese national identified as Mohd Ismail, who was under influence of liquor. The woman died on the spot after which an infuriated mob set the car on fire and went on rampage, he informed.

Rejecting allegations of laxity on part of local police, Parmeshwara said, ”The cops registered the case at that time itself.”

“We have formed special teams to trap the culprits and render justice to the victim who declined to file complaint against the accused fearing attack again,” he stated.

Some more arrests are going to be made depending on enquiry. The case has been transferred to Central Crime Branch for investigation, he added.

However, he maintained that it was not a racist attack, saying ”this is just a response to an accident. Bengaluru doesn’t have such kind of attitude.”

“The allegations that her clothes were torn off and they were paraded naked have not been verified as per the investigation so far,” he added.

The DGP and Commissioner also went to spot today and spoke to affected students and assured all help to them, he informed. Parmeshwara further stressed that there are times when foreign students stay even after their passports get expired and, therefore, they are going to pursue such cases.

Five suspects have been arrested by police in this connection and they are being interrogated. We have duly apprised the MEA about the progress in the case, Parmeshwara said.

Meanwhile, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today asked the Karnataka government to explain the incident and send the report immediately.

The BJP today dubbed the reaction of Rahul Gandhi on Tanzanian student assault as a ‘political stunt’, saying that the former is seeking report from Karnataka Chief Minister only after seeing media reports on the issue.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had yesterday condemned the attack on the Tanzanian student and asked for stringent punishment for the guilty.

The Tanzanian student was beaten and then stripped by a group of locals in Bengaluru after they assumed she was part of an incident in which a Sudanese man had run over a local woman.

The incident took place on Hesaraghatta Road in Bengaluru on Saturday night after a Sudanese national ran his car over a 35-year-old woman resulting in on the spot death of the woman.

The Tanzanian student was travelling in another car, a Wagon-R, along with four others. The young woman, who arrived on the spot around 30 minutes later, was dragged out of the car and paraded naked after being stripped by the mob.

The victim told the police in her complaint that when she tried to get on a bus in order to escape the assault, people on the bus pushed her back towards the mob.

Earlier, the local residents set fire to two cars belonging to the African students, who studied in local colleges in Ganapathinagar on Hesaraghatta Road.

Bangabandhu's image 'distorted' on Chittagong Awami League MP MA Latif's billboards

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s image on billboards installed in Chittagong by ruling Awami League MP MA Latif set up during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent visit to the port city appear to be a gross distortion of reality.

Bangladesh Chhatra League activists took out a procession and organised a rally protesting against the distortion following criticism of the billboards on social media.

The billboards display a photo of the nation’s founding father, but the posture, attire, and shoes do not match those which marked him out in his lifetime.

In response to the criticism, Latif has defended himself by saying that since he was busy with the prime minister’s visit, he had assigned the job of preparing and putting up the billboards to others.

“If it’s true, it has been wrongly done. I am in Dhaka now. I’ll take steps after checking when I return,” he told southnews24.com.

Poet Kamrul Hassan Badal posted photos of the billboards on Facebook and wrote, “I can’t believe these are Bangabandhu’s images. The dress and the posture are not his.”

Chittagong City BCL General Secretary Nurul Azam Rony wrote, “MP Latif has not only distorted Bangabandhu’s image by super-imposing the image of the Father of the Nation on his own body, but has also dragged the nation down.”

Since getting the Awami League’s parliamentary nomination in 2008, Latif has waded repeatedly into controversies by his actions.

He is on record as having taken part in a programme attended by the alleged war criminal, Islami Samaj Kalyan Parishad chief Maulana Shamsuddin, and the then Jamaat-e-Islami Nayeb-e-Amir Afsar Uddin Chowdhury on Jan 31, 2009.

The three men were caught on camera sharing the same stage.

Latif, a former president of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, had also been at loggerheads with former mayor and Chittagong Awami League chief ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury.

Chowdhury’s followers allege Latif has links with the Jamaat-e-Islami.