Journalists manhandled in presence of communications minister
Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain hurriedly leaves Railway Officers' Rest House in Chittagong yesterday while Railway Sramik League activists were still manhandling the journalists.Photo: STAR
Activists of Jatiya Sramik League of Bangladesh Railway unit manhandled journalists in the presence of Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain at a meeting here yesterday as the journalists protested the alleged theft of two mobile sets and a digital recorder from the venue. The alleged theft took place at Railway Officers Rest House near Central Railway Building (CRB) at around 12:00pm where the minister was addressing a view exchange meeting with the officials of Bangladesh Railway (east zone) and of roads and highways department. Just as the meeting was about to end, a group of leaders and activists of Jatiya Sramik League of Bangladesh Railway unit forcefully entered the small but crowded room to greet the minister. As the minister went to an adjacent room, staff reporter of The Daily Star Dwaipayan Barua found that his digital recorder, kept just in front of the minister, was missing. Cell phone of Hazera Sheuly, a reporter of banglanews24.com, and one of Shafik Ahmed Sajib, cameraman of Channel i, was also found missing from their pockets. When the reporters, while talking to themselves, blamed the crowd that entered the room, a group of the activists locked into an altercation with them. At one point they started shoving the journalists and hurled abuses at them. Mohammed Abu Naser, public relation officer (PRO) of the minister, called Dwaipayan and Hazera to the room where the minister was talking with some of the leaders and railway officials. The PRO offered the two journalists Tk 10,000 as compensation but the latter refused, demanding an investigation into the matter. When the journalists turned to leave the premises, around 20 to 30 of the activists led by the unit's Joint Secretary Lokman Hossain and railway clerk Jakir Hossain encircled them. They again started manhandling the journalists while the minister was still in the adjacent room. Those hurt during the scuffle include Dwaipayan, Kamal Parvez, senior staff reporter of ATN Bangla, Chowdhury Farid, bureau chief of Channel i, Mintu Chowdhury, staff reporter of bdnews24.com, Golam Maula Murad, senior staff reporter of Diganta, Alamgir Opu, staff reporter of RTV and several other local reporters. The minister left while the scuffle was going on. Chittagong Union of Journalists (CUJ) in an immediate meeting at Chittagong Press Club (CPC) at around 2:00pm announced to bring out protest procession from CPC premise at around 11:00am today and hold a protest rally tomorrow, demanding immediate steps against the culprits. Dwaipayan filed a case with Kotwali Police Station at 5:00pm in this connection. The minister contacted and met with the journalists in Chittagong Circuit House at 7:30pm. He condemned the incident and directed Railway General Manager Nurul Amin to form a probe body to investigate into the matter and submit a report within one week. He also directed law enforcers to find the missing items and arrest the culprits. In light of the minister's assurance, CUJ postponed its programmes for one week.
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