HC expects Humayun to right info in his book,Dhaka-Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam on Monday drew the High Court's attention to a novel by popular writer Humayun Ahmed citing that some information about the killing of Bangabandhu and his family were not correct in the book.

He appealed to the court that it took necessary steps to have the information corrected otherwise the readers would get the wrong information about the Dhanmondi-32 tragedy.

Upon the attorney general's submission, the HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim yesterday expressed hope that the publication of the novel Deyal would remain suspended until the information were corrected.

It issued a suo moto rule and asked the authorities concerned to furnish the writer with copies of relevant documents and judgements of the Bangabandhu killing case, so that he [Humayun] could right the information.

On May 11, two chapters of the novel were published in the daily Prothom Alo, in which it was stated that huddled on a bed two daughter-in-laws of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and little Russell were trembling with fear. When the killers broke into the room Russell hid behind the clothes rack. From there he cried, “Don't shoot me”.

The child was taken from there and was shot dead, according to the novel.

On May 14, the attorney general placed the copy of the newspaper before the HC bench.

He told the court that according to the documents and judgement of the Bangabandhu killing case, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 13 of his family members were assassinated on August 15, 1975 by a group of disgruntled army personnel. The killers had snatched Sheikh Russell from AFM Mohitul Islam, the then personal assistant of Bangabandhu, saying that they would take him to his mother.

Russell, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's 10-year-old son, had asked Mohidul whether they would kill him. Mohidul told the boy that they would not. But the killers took Russell from the ground floor and shot him dead on the first floor, said the attorney general.

he said Khandker Moshtaque, the main conspirator of the assassination, had been portrayed in the novel as if he did not know anything about the killing beforehand.

The HC bench yesterday made the secretaries of ministries of education, cultural affairs and information respondents of the suo moto rule and asked Deputy Attorney General ABM Altaf Hossain to provide necessary papers and documents to Humayun Ahmed.