Rubel Hossain acquitted by Dhaka court

A Dhaka court on Wednesday acquitted Rubel Hossain from a sexual abuse case filed in December last year by Bangladeshi actress Naznin Akhtar.

Rubel missed a fitness test at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on the same day as he had to appear in court.

Judge Tanjina Ismail of the Fifth Special Tribunal for prevention of women and children repression rejected Akhtar's no-confidence petition and passed the order. Akhtar had filed the no-confidence petition on May 17 against the probe report submitted by the police in the case filed by her against Rubel.

In the petition, she told the court that the police did not interrogate the eight witnesses including her brother, mother and sister before preparing the probe report. She sought the court's order for further investigation into the matter. Police inspector Halima Khatun had submitted the final report on the case on April 6, appealing to the court to relieve Rubel from the charge because they found no proof of the charges.

Akhtar had accused Rubel of making false proposal of marriage, on December 13, which came under the Women and Repression Prevention Act. Rubel got bail two days later, but he was sent to jail in January after he had surrendered before the Dhaka Metropolitan magistrate court and appealed for bail. He was given bail three days later and was later also given permission to travel abroad as Bangladesh were preparing for the World Cup.

Later in March, following Bangladesh's win over England in the World Cup, Akhtar said she would drop the case against Rubel.