Barrister Mainul Hosein has landed in jail in the libel suit over hurling abuses at journalist Masuda Bhatti on live television.
The prisons authorities took him after completing all formalities when police brought him to Dhaka Central Jail on Tuesday (Sept 3) following a court order, Senior Superintendent Iqbal Kabir Chowdhury told Bangla Tribune
Earlier in the day, a Dhaka court ordered to send Mainul to jail the case after the former adviser to the 2007-8 military-backed caretaker administration surrendered to the court and filed for bail.
On Jan 27 this year, Mainul was released from jail on bail over three months after staying behind bars in relation to separate libel suits filed over hurling abuses at Bhatti.
On Jan 13, the High Court granted bail to Hosein in 15 defamation cases for six months.
On Jan 24, the Appellate Division upheld the order granting bail to him, paving the way for his release.
On Oct 22 last year, Mainul was arrested from Dhaka’s Uttara in a defamation case filed in Rangpur.
As many as 22 cases -- one under the Digital Security Act and 21 for defamation --were filed against Barrister Mainul for defaming Bhatti.
On Oct 16, Hosein called Bhatti ‘debauchee’ at the talk show -- Ekattor Journal -- hosted by Mithila Farzana on Ekattor TV.
There has been an outpouring of anger on the social media about Mainul, one of the sponsors of the Dr Kamal Hossain-led new alliance with the BNP.
Mainul was in charge of law, justice and parliamentary affairs, among others, during his tenure in the caretaker government, when Awami League chief, now the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina and BNP chief Khaleda Zia was arrested on graft charges.
A son of The Daily Ittefaq editor late Tofazzal Hossain Manik Mia, Mainul has triggered a firestorm of anger and criticism on Oct 16, when he called journalist Bhatti a ‘debauchee’ in Ekattor Journal, a live talk show on Ekattor TV.
Mainul’s brother Anwar Hossain Monju, a minister in the Hasina administration, owns Ittefaq following a 2010 deal among the brothers, who have been involved in a long-drawn-out rivalry.
The brothers’ battle for the ownership of the prestigious daily had made headlines for years.