New Delhi: A local court in Dhaka has granted bail to Matiur Rahman, a prominent newspaper editor of Bangladesh, in a case filed against him and five of his colleagues over the death of a schoolchild due to electrocution at an event in November, 2019.

Rahman is the editor of Prothom Alo, Bangladesh’s largest newspaper in terms of circulation, and was granted anticipatory bail for four weeks starting on January 20 by the Dhaka high court in the case, which expired on February 16. Rahman’s counsel Ehsanul Haque Shamaji filed a bail petition on his behalf on February 17.

“Considering Matiur's age and his position as an editor of a renowned newspaper, the court granted him bail on the condition that he would have to appear before court on hearing days,” a report in The Dhaka Tribune quoted the court as having said in its order.

On November 1, 2019, Nayeemul Abrar, a student of Class 9 at the Dhaka Residential Model College, was reportedly electrocuted by a power generator during an event held in the premises by Kishor Alo, a popular youth magazine published by Prothom Alo.

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According to the news report, Nayeemul’s father Mohammad Mojibur Rahman filed a case against the organisers, accusing them of negligence. Aside from alleging that Kishor Alo and the school authorities concealed information about his son’s death, Mojibur Rahman also complaint of negligence against the organisers for taking his son to a hospital far from the school rather than to the one closest to it.

On January 16, a local court in Dhaka issued arrest warrants against ten persons, including the Prothom Alo editor, based on the investigation report submitted by the police station within whose jurisdiction the school falls.

On January 19, all the newspaper employees, including Rahman, had filed for anticipatory bail in the Dhaka high court. All of them were granted bail.

Passing the order, the bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice A.K.M. Jahirul Huq had “instructed police not to harass or arrest five other accused till (the police) frame charging (frames the charges) in the case, as their names were not mentioned in the FIR filed regarding the school student’s death.”

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