3 Meherpur journos sued under DSA

Three journalists, including the editor and the publisher of a local newspaper in Meherpur, have been sued under the Digital Security Act for publishing a report that allegedly defamed the reputation of a former lawmaker.

The accused are Emon Ahmed, publisher of the daily Meherpur Pratidin, Yadul Momin, editor of the newspaper, and Al Amin, joint editor of the daily.

Sabuj Hossain, nephew of former independent lawmaker from Meherpur-2 (Gangni) Maqbool Hossain, filed the case with Gangni Police Station on Wednesday, said Obaidur Rahman, officer-in-charge of the police station.

According to the case statement, the newspaper on May 11 published a "false and fabricated" report and shared it on various digital platforms to damage the reputation of Maqbool, who is also a former president of the district Awami League.

The report mentioned that Maqbool rented a house in Meherpur cityabout26 years ago and had been refusing to leave it despite repeated calls from the owner of the house, which was declared abandoned by the Meherepur municipality years ago.

Meanwhile, the municipal authorities served several notices to the owner asking to vacate the house as they were to demolish it, the report added.

Contacted, Maqbool said all the allegation were false as he did not receive any such notice from the owner and had been regularly paying the rents.

His claims, however, could not be independently verified as The Daily Star could not get hold of the house owner despite several attempts.

Yadul said he had heard about the case and he got all the supporting data to substantiate the news story in question.