A Hindu teen has been convicted in Bangladesh under the draconian Digital Security Act for “hurting religious sentiments” through a social media post, reports Hindu Voice. The said post had become the trigger for yet another Islamist mob attack that left an entire Hindu fishing village burnt to the ground in Rangpur district’s Pirganj on October 17, 2021. That attack had occurred while almost half of Bangladesh was still witnessing an anti-Hindu pogrom over a fake blasphemy incident at a Durga Puja pandal in Comilla, that left 9 dead, over a dozen girls & women raped and hundreds of temples, houses and other Hindu properties vandalized.
Poritosh Sarkar, who was a 10th grader at the time, was sentenced to five years in prison. As per this report dated October 19,2021, Bangladeshi police claimed that the boy ‘confessed’ and that he was 19-years-old at the time. However, Poritosh’s family and lawyer say that no evidence has been found that he made any such derogatory post as his phone was broken beyond repair and the Criminal Investigation Department of police was unable to conduct forensic tests on it.
This is the first conviction in the violence at Pirganj that left anywhere between 20-60 Hindu houses razed, in an act of collective punishment unleashed by a large Muslim mob. Not only has nobody else been convicted, but most of those accused of attacking the village are out on bail, while the rest are on the run, reports Hindu Voice.
According to the Pirganj police station, Poritosh was sentenced under section 31(1) of the DSA which criminalises the publication of anything that “creates enmity, hatred or hostility among different classes or communities of the society, or destroys communal harmony”.
Sessions Judge of the Rangpur Cyber Tribunal Abdul Mojid handed the verdict. The verdict against Poritosh is also the first instance where the Rangpur Cyber Tribunal handed down a conviction, that too, against someone whose own cowshed was burnt down in the mayhem.
A video has emerged showing smiling Bangladeshi policemen taking Poritosh away from the court, while the boy shouts “Minorities have no value in Bangladesh…I request the Prime Minister, stop persecution of minorities.”
In addition to being the only one related to the incident who has been punished, Poritosh was put into solitary confinement for eight months while he underwent trial. The prison authorities had told Poritosh’s lawyer and his family that he was being kept there “for his safety”. Solitary confinement that lasts longer than 15 consecutive days is recognized by the United Nations as “torture”.
Poritosh was denied bail three times by the Rangpur Cyber Tribunal. He was finally released on bail on May 9, 2022, after a High Court order was issued in this regard. But on February 5, Judge Abdul Mojid sent him to jail again to await the verdict.
Although Paritosh has been convicted for his allegedly ‘blasphemous’ Facebook post, no one has been convicted for the anti-Hindu violence directed at all Hindus of the village.
Those accused for the anti-Hindu pogrom include the village mosque’s moazzem Rabiul Islam, who made the calls from mosque loudspeaker for people to gather; Saikat Mandal, the mastermind of the violence, a college student and Chhatra League (Awami League’s student wing) leader; and Ujjal Hasan, who had first taken a screenshot of the social media post allegedly made by Poritosh and spread it. They are all out on bail. Also out on bail are 74 people accused of attacking and burning down the village, while 72 others are on the run.
“We will take the case to the High Court,” said Poritosh’s lawyer Shamim al Mamun. The Digital Security Act introduced in 2018 by the Sheikh Hasina government has been widely criticized by human rights activists for its draconian provisions and the way it has been used even against children.