A professor at Dhaka University has been sued under the Digital Security Act for making “derogatory” comments on religion during a talk show on a private television channel.

Two cases were filed with the Cyber Tribunal in Dhaka against Md Ziaur Rahman, professor of DU’s Criminology Department, yesterday.

Shamim Al Mamun, bench assistant of the tribunal, confirmed this to The Daily Star.

Md Imrul Hasan, a lawyer; and Muhammad Mahbub Alam, editor of monthly magazine Al Bayyinat and daily Al-Ihsan, lodged the lawsuits separately, Shamim mentioned.

After the hearing, the tribunal took the cases into cognisance and recorded statements of both complainants.

It also directed the Cyber Crime Investigation Division of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit of police to investigate the matter and submit two separate reports to it by November 1.

According to the case documents, Ziaur made anti-Islamic remarks during a talk show of private TV channel DBC News recently, hurting people’s religious sentiment. Video clips of the talk show went viral on Facebook and YouTube.