BCL foils Star's constant vigilance

Two correspondents of The Daily Star were beaten up in the line of duty by activists of Chhatra League at a Dhaka University polling centre yesterday afternoon.

Porimol Palma and Mahbubur Rahman, who were assigned in the DU area to cover the Annex Building Polling Centre, were attacked and driven out around 2:00pm by BCL men wearing badges of Awami League-backed mayoral candidate Sayeed Khokon.

The Daily Star sent the reporters as part of its tradition to ensure constant vigilance over a centre to gain insight into how the poll was progressing there every hour.

Four different moments at the polling station set up at the law faculty of Dhaka University yesterday. Later, around 2:00pm, two journalists of this newspaper were assaulted by ruling party men. Photo: Star

The newspaper assigned reporters, in a similar fashion, in the 2001, 2008 and 2014 national elections to ensure daylong coverage of at least one polling centre. However, none of its reporters had ever faced any such attack before.

The reporters appeared at the centre around 8:00am, and were barred in several phases from entering the booths by a police officer who was stationed there, and the presiding officer. 

As one reporter pointed out that it was only the curtained portion of a booth where a journalist cannot enter, they were allowed in.

When they took a break at a roadside tea shop near the Central Shaheed Minar in the afternoon, 10 to 12 BCL men came rushing to them. They asked the reporters to follow them towards Dhaka Medical College. Asked why, one BCL man rudely replied, "You' will see."

As the reporters showed them their visiting cards, the BCL men dragged them and started punching and kicking them. They also shouted: "Beat the BNP agent … fake journalists."

The BCL men also robbed Porimol of his mobile phone, backpack, note book and some necessary papers.

After beating and harassing them for about five minutes, they told the reporters, "Run. Run away."

Porimol and Mahbub were later taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where they took treatment.

A general diary was filed in this connection with Shahbagh Police Station.

The centre of the Dhaka South City Corporation had around 25 polling agents, belonging mostly to AL-backed candidates. However, only four agents of BNP-backed mayoral candidate Mirza Abbas were seen, but they left the centre around 11:05am.

Around 12:30pm, the presiding officer counted that 458 votes were cast till then. However, until 12:00 noon, The Daily Star reporters found that the number of voters entering the centre was 352.  

Around 1:30pm, a police officer, stationed at the centre, asked the reporters to go downstairs, saying that a deputy commissioner wanted to meet with them. He also claimed that the name of the DC was Masud Rana.

As these correspondents went downstairs, Masud asked if they were journalists. When they replied in the positive, Masud said journalists were not allowed to stay at a centre throughout the day. He then asked them to leave the venue.

"You will come, visit and go. You cannot stay constantly," he told them.

In reply to a query, Masud even claimed it was a written rule, but he was not carrying the written copy with him.

It was right after this conversation with Masud that the BCL men showed up and attacked the correspondents.

The total voters for the Annex Building Centre were 1826 but the total number of votes cast could not be known as the reporters were driven out.