A senior Bangladeshi feminine journalist, recognized for her investigative reporting, was arrested on fees of violating colonial-era official privateness legal guidelines, with police triggering protests by rights teams and her allies on Tuesday.
Rosina Islam, a senior journalist with the Bengali day by day Prothom Elo, the most important day by day newspaper based mostly on dissemination, was detained for greater than 5 hours on Monday by well being ministry officers for clicking an image of a doc from her cellphone with out permission. Kept in He was later arrested by the police.
Police mentioned the ministry filed a case towards him underneath the 1923 Official Secrets Act at round midnight when he spent his night time in police custody.
A case has been registered towards Rojina Islam underneath the 1923 Official Secret Act.
He was produced in a courtroom right here, demanding that he be despatched to custody for 5 days, which the decide rejected and despatched him to jail to await common authorized procedures.
The decide mentioned he would contemplate prosecution fees and protection statements, together with his bail plea, on Thursday.
A prosecution lawyer informed reporters that “the charge is true or false, a case has been filed” which requires a course of to be settled.
Rosina, who has earned a popularity as an investigative journalist, has revealed a number of stories in latest months highlighting the alleged misconduct of the Ministry of Health through the COVID-19 epidemic that has attracted public consideration.
She additionally revealed a number of stories associated to the well being sector, together with alleged corruption in procurement within the Ministry of Health, corruption in recruitment of medical doctors and the way fast medical gadgets had been left for coronovirus remedy at Dhaka airport for months.
“The incident is unfortunate,” Health Minister Zahid Malek informed TV channels with out elaborating, even boycotting an everyday Health Ministry press convention protesting his arrest.
He additionally dismissed allegations that Rozina’s report on the well being sector brought on him the wrath of well being ministry officers, saying the motion was not led by any “retaliation”.
Health Ministry public relations officer Maidul Islam Proudhan claimed that Rosina was additionally carrying some paperwork when senior officers of the ministry challenged her and later known as the ladies’s police.
Prothom Aloe newspaper mentioned that she had gone to the ministry for her skilled duties, alleging that she was detained for 5 hours for a very long time and was bodily and mentally harassed.
Bangladeshi journalist teams and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) demanded his launch and expressed concern a couple of case filed underneath a draconian colonial-era regulation that carries ridiculously harsh punishments.
The CPJ mentioned in a press release, “Bangladesh police and officials should accept that Rozina Islam is a journalist whose work is a public service and she should immediately drop the case against him and let him be freed.”
The Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), in a press release, warned of stern motion till steps have been taken for Rosina’s unconditional launch. It regretted that when the federal government introduced a coverage of “zero tolerance” towards corruption, they had been charged underneath “black law” for his or her reporting.
“Journalists are nobody’s enemies … don’t push them away, which will ultimately benefit the robbers,” the assertion mentioned.
It additionally known as for protests within the capital on Wednesday on the difficulty as journalists staged avenue protests in numerous cities of Bangladesh.
National Press Club of Bangladesh President Farissa Yasmin and General Secretary Ilyas Khan known as on Home Minister Asaduzzamman Khan Kamal to demand a correct investigation into the difficulty and correct amenities for the journalist arrested in jail.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
