Bangladeshi actress and Former Miss Earth Bangladesh Meghna Alam was arrested under the country’s much-reviled Special Powers Act, triggering widespread public outrage. The authorities accused her of endangering Bangladesh’s diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia. The circumstances under which she was taken into custody, however, questioned in grave earnest the credibility of due process as well as its abuse.
The arrest occurred late Wednesday night when a team from the Detective Branch (DB) of Bangladesh Police raided Alam’s residence. At the time, she was livestreaming on Facebook, vehemently denying any wrongdoing. In the now-deleted 12-minute video, officers can be seen storming into her home, identifying themselves before the stream abruptly ended. Her sudden arrest on unsubstantiated charges elicited outrage and protests on social media.
Alam was arrested without warning or any formal warrant, as per local news publication Prothom Alo. The outcry resulted in the top DB officer who directed the operation being removed. Legal advisor Asif Nazrul, who spoke on behalf of the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, subsequently admitted in a press conference that arresting Alam under the Special Powers Act was not proper.
The next day, Meghna was produced before a court in Dhaka, which directed her to be kept in jail for 30 days.
Adding fuel to the controversy, reports surfaced suggesting that the arrest of Meghna Alam might have been influenced by personal matters. In several deleted Facebook posts, she claimed to have been in a relationship with a Saudi Arabian diplomat. Her father, Badrul Alam, confirmed to The Daily Star that she was engaged to the then Saudi ambassador to Bangladesh. He claimed that when he learned about the diplomat’s pre-marriage, Meghna telephoned his wife, prompting the diplomat perhaps to involve the Home Ministry.
The event raised serious issues about personal freedom, diplomatic pressure, and misuse of state authority in Bangladesh.
