Police have arrested Barrister Mainul Hosein, who has been sued for libel in several courts across Bangladesh.
He was picked up around 9.30pm on Monday in a warrant issued by a court in Rangpur, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Joint Commissioner Mahbub Alam told Bangla Tribune.
Mainul was arrested from Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) chief ASM Abdur Rab’s residence in the capital’s Uttara and was taken to the Detective Branch offices, said the senior police officer.
Rab’s personal aide Saiful told Bangla Tribune that police cordoned off the house on Road 4, Sector 3 around 8:30pm.
Bangla Tribune reached Mainul over the phone around 9:30pm, when he said, “I am a bit busy. Will talk later.”
According to witnesses, police had taken position around the house on Road 4 before Mainul arrived there.
“Plainclothes policemen asked me whether Mainul sir was in the house before he arrived,” Siddique, one of the watchmen at Rab’s residence told Bangla Tribune.
According to him, Mainul’s car entered the house after 9:30pm and soon after plainclothes, as well as uniformed policemen, arrived in front of the entrance.
“Around 9:45pm, police entered the house and took away Mainul sir in a car 30 minutes later,” said Siddique.
Mainul is one of the sponsors of the Dr Kamal Hossain-led new alliance with the BNP, Rab's JSD and Mahmudur Rahman Manna's Nagorik Oikya.
His remarks have triggered a firestorm of anger and criticism when he called journalist Masuda Bhatti a ‘debauchee’ in Ekattor Journal, a live talk show on Ekattor TV.
Mainul has apologised to Bhatti over the phone as well as to Ekattor TV in written, but calls have resonated for a public apology.
On Sunday, Bhatti sued him in a Dhaka court as well as several other libel suits were filed in courts across the country.
Mainul has secured anticipatory bails in the case filed by Bhatti and in another case filed in Jamalpur. His counsel has filed for bail in a case filed in Kurigram.
Mainul faces similar cases with several other courts, including in Rangpur, which ordered his arrest.
Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took a swipe at Mainul, who served as an adviser to the 2007-08 military-installed caretaker administration.
Addressing the media at her Ganabhaban residence, she said, “Not only had the whole country but the whole world, seen how he hurled abuses at a female journalist. The court has granted him bail, there’s nothing to say.
“But that’s only one case, there can be several more. You (the media) carry on with the protests and the law enforces will do whatever needed.”
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