Youth sent to jail hurting religious sentiment at DU

A court has sent a youth to jail in a case filed for blasphemy in the Dhaka University (DU) area .

On Friday, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Albiruni Mir passed the ordered responding to an application by the investigation officer.

The arrested youth has been identified as Mehedi Hasan, 31. Police said he lives in Delduar upazila of Tangail.

The case alleges that three copies of the Quranic commentary book 'Afhimul Quran' written by Jamaat-e-Islami founder Syed Abul Ala Maududi were burnt at the foot of the Raju statue of Dhaka University around 12:30 am on Thursday. This hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims.

After the incident, a group of people present there beat Mehedi and handed him over to the police. He was later taken to Shahbagh Police Station.

SI Kamal Uddin Mia of Nilkhet police station of Shahbagh police station filed a case on charges of hurting religious sentiments and insulting religion. Mehedi was arrested and was produced in court in that case.

SI Shah Alam of the prosecution police said, "There was no bail application on behalf of Mehedi Hasan during the hearing. He was not brought to the court."

Yousuf Harun, the head of the university's procural team, said, "Last night, a boy, dressed like a madman, was walking around with a few pages of the Quran in his hand. After some people saw him, they tried to beat him. Later, the procural team and the police rescued him and handed him over to the police station."