All eyes are on the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court in Dhaka as it is expected to deliver its order on the bail petition of Rozina Islam, senior reporter of Bangla daily Prothom Alo, today.

On Thursday, a virtual hearing of the petition began at 12:50pm and went on for more than an hour. The court of Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Baki Billah then took two hours to deliberate on his decision.

Later, on the day, the prosecution sought more time and the court postponed deciding on the journalist Rozina Islam's bail until today.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Hemayet Uddin Khan Heron earlier said that the prosecutors would use the extra time to place a video before the court that mysteriously surfaced on social media the night before Rozina's bail hearing.

The seven-minute-long footage shows some health ministry officials and policemen interrogating and manhandling the journalist while she describes how she came inside the personal secretary's room at the Secretariat through a source.

At one point, she says, "I made a mistake and I would be willing to give a written undertaking."

However, this video only shows seven minutes of Rozina's five-hour ordeal inside the ministry.

Meanwhile, Rozina's lawyers argued that nothing Rozina said under duress, without a magistrate's presence, could be used as evidence.

Her lawyers also pointed out that the video could not be taken into cognisance by the court as the case rests solely on the first information report filed by the police, which does not mention the video at all.

The health ministry has filed a case against Rozina under several sections of the Official Secrets Act and penal code. They accused the journalist of stealing and taking photos of "highly sensitive" government documents.

Shibbir Ahmed Osmani, a deputy secretary of the health services division, filed the case with Shahbagh Police Station on Monday night.

In his complaint, Shibbir said Bangladesh was in negotiations with several countries for purchasing Covid-19 vaccines and there were "non-disclosure agreements".

Rozina's family members and her colleagues refuted the allegations and said she was framed while discharging her professional duties because she exposed the corruption of certain health ministry officials.

Rozina has written several in-depth reports on corruption in the health sector amid the pandemic.

Rozina's confinement and arrest triggered countrywide protests by journalists.

Journalist leaders promised to launch tougher programmes if Rozina was not released by today.

On Tuesday, Rozina was taken to Kashimpur Central Women's Jail after a Dhaka court rejected the five-day remand plea.

The Detective Branch of Police (Ramna) is now investigating the case.