A Dhaka court has indicted suspended assistant commissioner Tapashee Tabassum Urmi in a defamation case, clearing the way for her trial.
On Tuesday, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sefatullah rejected an application to drop the case and ordered the trial to proceed, according to Khademul Islam, the plaintiff’s lawyer.
Urmi appeared in court at 10:30 AM, and her lawyer, PM Mahadi Hasan, filed a motion to have the case dismissed.
During the hearing, the defense lawyer argued that Urmi was not involved in the incident described in the case, calling the accusations false, and maintaining her innocence. The defense further claimed that Urmi expressed her personal views in a Facebook post about current events and that the post was unrelated to the plaintiff.
The defense cited Sections 499 and 500 of the Penal Code, which allow for a defamation case to be filed by the person who was defamed or, if they are deceased, by a close relative. Since the plaintiff is not a relative of either student movement martyr Abu Sayed or Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, they argued, there was no legal basis for the case, and it should be dropped.
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Khademul, opposed the motion and argued that charges should be framed against Urmi. He stated that the defendant made the defamatory Facebook post with the intent to undermine the student movement.
Khademul also emphasized that the plaintiff had been actively involved in the student movement and spent 11 days in jail, making him a legitimate party to the defamation case.
After hearing both sides, the court ordered the case to go to trial under Section 500 of the Penal Code.
The case was filed on October 8 by Abu Hanif, a Gono Odhikar Parishad Executive Council member from Narayanganj, accusing Urmi of making defamatory comments about Abu Sayed and other martyrs of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement.
Following the plaintiff’s statement, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Zakir Hossain summoned Urmi and scheduled the next hearing for November 28.
On November 28, Urmi surrendered to the court and sought bail through her lawyer, but the court rejected the plea and allowed the case to continue.
The plaintiff claims that Urmi’s Facebook post on August 5 referred to martyr Abu Sayed as a “terrorist” and insulted him, as well as other martyrs of the movement. The plaintiff alleges that Urmi, while holding a government position, made “hateful comments” about a martyr, causing pain and humiliation to supporters of the cause.
The complaint also alleges that Urmi made derogatory remarks about the interim government and Chief Advisor Yunus, as well as threatening to “overthrow the government” in her Facebook post, which created public fear.
On October 6, Urmi was transferred to the Ministry of Public Administration as an officer on special duty (OSD) over her post about Yunus, and she was suspended the following day.
