Section 57: Journo, freedom fighter sued

Three cases have been filed against two journalists including a local correspondent of daily Prothom Alo under section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act.

In Chandpur, two cases have been filed against Prothom Alo's Hajiganj correspondent Mohammad Shahjahan and freedom fighter Mozammel Haider Chowdhury under section 57 over the same allegations.

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Anwar Hossain of Shahrasti Nizmehar area filed one case with the Judicial Magistrate's Court, Shahrasti on Sunday.

Prof Md Farhad Hossain of Hajiganj Sendra area filed the other case with Hajiganj police on May 22.

The plaintiffs in the cases said a report was published on page 9 of Prothom Alo on May 9 headlined “Freedom fighter scrutiny suspended in Hajiganj.”

The report said the freedom fighter scrutiny could not be completed due to neglect of lawmaker for Chandpur-5 constituency sector commander Maj (retd) Rafiqul Islam Bir Uttam and Hajiganj upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Mohammad Mahbubul Alam.

The complainants termed the report “false” and “fabricated” and said it had hurt local freedom fighters, conscious citizens and the general public.

Farhad said he had filed the case on behalf of the lawmaker.

The judicial magistrate's court took the case into cognisance and directed Shahrasti police to take action after an investigation.

Chandpur Superintendent of Police Shamsunnahar said she would talk with the OCs concerned so that no journalists were unnecessarily harassed.

Another journalist was sued by a colleague in Kushtia under section 57 of the ICT Act on Monday.

Melon Ullah, Kushtia district correspondent of TV channel Independent, filed the case against editor of online news portal Bijoynews24.com Shamsul Islam Swapan with Kushtia Model police following a facebook post against him on June 10.

In the case, Melon said Swapan had used vulgar words “intentionally” in a bid to “tarnish” his journalist image.

Officer-in-Charge Nasir Uddin said they could not arrest Swapan.

“We are looking for him,” he said.