Actress Nusraat Faria Granted Bail in Attempted Murder Case

A day after she was sent to jail in an attempted murder case filed over an incident during the Anti-discrimination Student Movement protests, Dhallywood actress Nusraat Faria has been granted bail.

Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Mostafizur Rahman issued the bail order based on a petition from Nusraat’s lawyer Mohammad Iftekhar Hossain on Tuesday.

“We had submitted a special put-up requesting Nusraat Faria’s bail,” he said.

“After the hearing, the court granted bail until the police report in the case was submitted and set a Tk 5,000 bond. We will now file a bail application. We hope that she will be released from jail today.”

The arrest of Nusraat, who portrayed the role of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman biopic “Mujib: The Making of a Nation”, sparked widespread discussion and criticism online. Even advisors in the interim government weighed in on the debate.

The actress had been detained by Immigration Police at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on her way to Thailand. She was then placed under arrest in the case.

Sub-Inspector Billal Bhuiyan of Vatara Police Station, the investigating officer in the case, brought Nusraat to court and petitioned to detain her in jail custody. Nusraat’s lawyers petitioned for her bail. Dhaka Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Omar Faruq Faruqi stood for the state and opposed the bail.

After the bail hearing, the court ordered a report to be submitted on whether Nusraat had been abroad during the July Uprising and whether she had expressed her support for the movement on Facebook.

The court then ordered her to be taken into jail custody and said a bail hearing would be held on May 22 after the report was submitted.

An individual named Enamul Haque filed the case against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 282 others over a Jul 19 incident in which he was shot in front of Vatara Police Station during the Anti-discrimination Student Movement protests. The court approved the case for investigation.