A Dhaka court has granted bail to Helena Jahangir, a businesswoman who was expelled from an Awami League subcommittee, in a case filed under the Digital Security Act.
Dhaka's Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Abu Bakr Siddique granted her bail on a Tk 10,000 bond on Wednesday.
“There are no more obstacles to Helena’s release from jail,” her lawyer AHM Shofiqul Islam Molla said as she had previously secured bail in three other cases filed against her.
Three other cases were filed under the Telecommunication Act, the Digital Security Act and the Narcotics Control Act.
Helena was arrested at her Gulshan residence on charges of spreading propaganda and misleading information on digital platforms on Jul 29. She was remanded in police custody for 17 days in four separate cases afterwards.
Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Imrul Kayes granted bail to Helena in two cases on Sep 21. She secured bail in another case under the Telecommunication Act on Aug 17.
A director of the apex trade body FBCCI and chairperson of Joyjatra TV, Helena also identifies herself as the president of the IP TV Owners Association of Bangladesh.
The Awami League’s subcommittee on women’s affairs fired her as a member recently after her name came up on social media as the president of ‘Bangladesh Awami Chakrijibi League’, a group with no official links to the ruling party.
She also lost her post as an adviser to the Cumilla District Unit of the party after a ‘Chakrijibi League’ post seeking members went viral on social media.
