Journalist Couple Rupa-Shakil Plead for Return to Normal Life

Staff Reporter

Former 71 TV chief reporter Farzana Rupa and her husband, former news editor Shakil Ahmed, who was dismissed from the same channel, have appealed to the court to allow them to return to their normal lives. On Monday, January 27, Rupa made the plea before Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Saifuzzaman during a hearing in a case filed with Mirpur Police Station.

During the hearing, Rupa requested permission to speak to the court. After the judge granted her request, she stepped forward and said, “I have a small child. Both my husband and I have been in jail for six months. Please grant us bail. We want to return to our normal lives.” Following the hearing, the court ordered both Rupa and Shakil to be remanded in custody.

Earlier in the day, Rupa was brought to the court from Kashimpur Jail in a prison van and later placed in the women’s cell at the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s lockup. Similarly, her husband Shakil was brought to the court from Keraniganj Central Jail and placed in the men’s cell. The couple was kept in separate cells, preventing them from seeing each other.

Later, Rupa was prepared for the hearing in the Mirpur case. She was handcuffed, wearing a bulletproof jacket and a helmet. She was then brought into the courtroom alongside other high-profile detainees, including former private industry and investment adviser to the prime minister Salman F Rahman, former law minister Anisul Haque, former ICT state minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, and Desh TV’s managing editor Arif Hasan.

As Rupa entered the courtroom and stood in the dock, she anxiously looked around for her husband, Shakil. A few minutes later, Shakil was brought into the courtroom alongside former ministers Hasanul Haq Inu and Rashed Khan Menon. Upon seeing her husband, Rupa appeared visibly relieved. The couple, overwhelmed with emotion, began conversing with each other, sometimes whispering and at other times smiling, as they stood together in the dock.

The couple’s plea highlights their desire to reunite with their family and resume their lives after months of incarceration. Their emotional interaction in court underscored the personal toll the legal proceedings have taken on them.