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Image: Screenshot from Meghdol’s music video
Esho Amar Shohore / Meghdol on YouTube |
On 31 October 2021, the Metropolitan Magistrate Court
ordered the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to investigate
members of the rock band Meghdol three days after a legal complaint was
filed against them for allegedly insulting “religious sentiments” during one of
their performances.
“Investigating members of the band Meghdol over their music
is in clear violation of the musicians’ human right to freely express
themselves artistically,” said Gerd Elmark, Freemuse Interim Executive
Director. “The right to freedom of expression is guaranteed by Article 19 of
the ICCPR and should be protected. Artists should not be subjected to legal
prosecution for their political beliefs or stances towards religion. We call on
the Bangladeshi authorities to end the investigation against Meghdol.”
“We are gravely concerned over
the incident of investigating members of music group Meghdol for hurting
religious sentiment. […] Instead of constitution guaranteeing freedom of
artistic expression as free-thinking, artists and activists are continuously
facing obstacles and barriers to exercise their constitutional rights by state
and non-state actors in Bangladesh. […],” said Shahanur Islam, Secretary
General, Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) and JusticeMakers
Bangladesh. “We are urging the Prime Minister of Bangladesh to do everything
in her power to ensure to drop the case against members of Meghdol after a full
and impartial investigation into the reported case […].”
According to Dhaka
Tribune, the seven band members Shibu Kumar Shil, Mezba-ur Rahman Sumon,
Rashid Sharif Shoaib, MG Kibaria, Amjad Hossain, Tanvir Dawood Rony and Sourav
Sarkar are under investigation after lawyer Imrul Hasan filed a complaint to
the court alleging that his “religious sentiments” had been hurt. Hasan claims
that Meghdol insulted his religious
sentiments during the performance of the song Om at the concert Against Violence
at Dhaka University held on 22 October 2021, which was later streamed on
YouTube.
Freemuse sources report that Hasan
filed a complaint under Section 295(A) of the Penal code, criminalising “insults
or attempts to insult the religion”. If
found guilty, the band members could be punished with imprisonment for up to
two years, a fine, or both.
Hasan claims that the band used the melody
from the Islamic prayer the Talbiyah and
“disrespectfully” sang the verse
“Labbaik Allah humma labbaik”, meaning “Here I am, O Allah, here
I am” during their performance.
The court ordered the PBI to submit its report by 1
December 2021.
As mentioned in the State of Artistic Freedom 2021 report, there
were 24 persecuted artists in 2020 under the pretext of religion.
This is not the first instance of Hasan
targeting Bangladeshi musicians with complaints of this nature. In February 2020, the lawyer filed a complaint
against Rita
Dewan, Baul singer, under section 28 of the Digital Security Act (DSA),
which prohibits broadcasting any content “with the aim of hurting religious
sentiments or values”.
Freemuse, the Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights and
JusticeMakers Bangladesh call on the Bangladeshi authorities to end the
investigation against Meghdol.
You can also read the statement at Freemuse and BIHR page visiting the following links:
https://freemuse.org/news/freemuse-bangladesh-institute-of-human-rights-and-justicemakers-bangladesh-call-on-bangladeshi-authorities-to-end-the-investigation-of-band-meghdol/
https://bihrbd.blogspot.com/2021/11/freemuse-bihr-and-justicemakers.html
চট্রগ্রামে রিয়াজ উদ্দীন বাজারে গগন মার্কেটের দ্বিতীয় তলায় যৌন সংখ্যালঘু সমকামী গে কিশোরকে নির্যাতনপূর্বক নগ্ন করে ভিডিও ধারণ ও ব্ল্যাক মেইলিং করে চাঁদা আদায়ের ঘটনায় মানবাধিকার প্রতিষ্ঠান বাংলাদেশ ইনস্টিটিউট অব হিউম্যান রাইটস (বিআইএইচআর) এবং জাস্টিসমেকার্স বাংলাদেশ গভীর উদ্বেগ প্রকাশ করেছে।
