Online Desk  :   Online activist Pinaki Bhattacharya and former Chhatra Dal joint secretary Mofizur Rahman Ashik have been exempted in a case filed under the Digital Security Act (DSA), accusing them of tarnishing the state’s image. The judge of the Cyber Tribunal of Dhaka Noor-e-Alam on Thursday dismissed the police charge sheet submitted before the court on October 9 in connection with the case, said Public Prosecutor Md Rafiqul Islam.

A Sub-Inspector M Abdullahil Maruf of Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) filed the case with Ramna police station on October 15, 2022 on charges of presenting distorted information about police personnel.

The case was filed following a Facebook post posted on October14, 2022. According to the complaint, Rahman had allegedly used a fake Facebook account to interact with various individuals, including Pinaki and Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey, a journalist and former deputy press secretary of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, sharing distorted information about a police operation in Mirpur.

Ashik was arrested from his Pallabi residence Dhaka, on October 15, with two of his mobile phones seized. He was on bail in the case. The investigation officer of the case, SI Mohammad Rahat Hossain, submitted the charge sheet against two individuals, Pinaki and Ashik, before the tribunal. But the name of Ansarey was dropped from the charge sheet.