The High Court has asked why the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court should not be ordered to hold a bail hearing for actress Shamsunnahar Smriti, better known by her screen name Pori Moni, without delay.
The High Court bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice KM Zahid Sarwar issued the rule on Thursday after hearing a petition from Pori Moni’s lawyers, reports bdnews24.com.
On Aug 22, when Pori Moni’s lawyers petitioned the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court for bail in a narcotics case, Judge KM Imrul Kayesh set Sept 13 for the hearing. Pori Moni’s lawyer Mojibur Rahman then filed an RG the following day, requesting a hearing be scheduled sooner.
He filed a petition with the High Court on Wednesday after receiving no response to the RG. In addition to requesting a rule on the issue, he also petitioned the High Court for Pori Moni’s bail.
After an initial hearing, the High Court issued a rule, but did not grant the bail.
In the rule, the court asked why the hearing should not be moved up and why the Sept 13 date, nearly three weeks after the bail petition, should not be scrapped.
The hearing of the rule has been set for Sept 01 and the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court ordered to respond.
Actress Pori Moni was recently in the news after she accused businessman Nasir U Mahmood of attempting to rape and her at a Boat Club in Dhaka.
On Aug 04, the Rapid Action Battalion conducted a raid on Pori Moni's home in Banani. The police unit later detained her, allegedly with bottles of liquor, Yaba pills and LSD blots in her possession.
A Dhaka metropolitan magistrate on Saturday ordered Pori Moni be taken to jail when the Criminal Investigation Department produced her in court after a third round of remand to interrogate her in connection with the case.
She confronted her own defence team while in court after the lawyers opted against appealing for her release on bail in the narcotics case, filed over the alleged recovery of drugs in a raid on her home on Aug 04.
When the lawyers sought bail on Sunday, Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Imrul Kayesh set Sept 13 for the hearing.