Defence Adviser’s Wife Targeted in Alleged Defamatory Social Media Posts

A man has been arrested in Rajshahi over allegations that he circulated what authorities described as defamatory, obscene and false content about the wife of the Prime Minister’s Defence Adviser, Brigadier General (retd) Dr AKM Shamsul Islam.

The arrested man has been identified as Palash Chowdhury, 48, a resident of the Malopara area of Rajshahi city. A team from the Rajshahi সদর Company of Rapid Action Battalion-5 arrested him from a rented residence in the city’s Ranibazar area in the early hours of Friday, 31 July.

According to the law enforcement agency, Chowdhury was arrested as an accused identified during the investigation into a case filed in connection with the alleged online posts.

The case was initiated after Nur Mohammad, 30, who works as a personal officer to the Prime Minister’s Defence Adviser, reportedly came across several posts on Facebook on the afternoon of 1 July. The posts, according to the case statement, were circulated through a number of Facebook accounts, groups and pages, as well as Telegram channels, and allegedly contained false, obscene and defamatory statements concerning the adviser’s wife.

The complainant subsequently filed a case at Gulshan Police Station in Dhaka on 2 July under the Cyber Security Act. Four individuals were named in the complaint, while between 10 and 12 others were listed as unidentified accused.

According to the allegations, the content was later shared and circulated by other users across social media platforms, potentially widening its reach beyond the original accounts or channels. The complaint claimed that the circulation of the material damaged the woman’s social standing and subjected her to humiliation, defamation and alleged blackmail.

Following the filing of the case, police from Gulshan Police Station arrested four people in connection with the allegations. Investigators subsequently identified Chowdhury as another person allegedly linked to the dissemination of the content, leading to his arrest in Rajshahi.

RAB said that during preliminary questioning, Chowdhury admitted to his involvement in the incident. The agency said arrangements were under way to hand him over to Gulshan Police Station, where further legal proceedings would be initiated.

The arrest comes amid growing scrutiny in Bangladesh over the use of social media to circulate allegedly defamatory or harmful material. Digital platforms such as Facebook and Telegram allow content to spread rapidly among large audiences, while investigators face the challenge of identifying the individuals behind accounts, groups and channels involved in such activities.

However, allegations made in a criminal case remain subject to investigation and judicial proceedings. The arrest of an accused does not, by itself, establish guilt, which must ultimately be determined through due legal process.

Authorities have not publicly disclosed further details about the specific online accounts or channels allegedly used to circulate the material, nor have they provided additional information about the evidence gathered against the newly arrested suspect. The investigation is expected to determine the precise nature of his alleged involvement and whether other unidentified individuals played a role in producing or disseminating the disputed content.