Rozina Islam. Photo taken from Prothom Alo

A Dhaka court fixed today to hear the bail petition of Prothom Alo Senior Reporter Rozina Islam after hearing part of the petition yesterday.

Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Jashim, on Tuesday, rejected a police plea for placing the senior reporter on a five-day remand.

Rozina is in jail now in a case filed by the health ministry under several sections of the Official Secrets Act and penal code. She is accused of stealing and taking photos of "highly sensitive" government documents.

She was taken to Kashimpur Central Women's Jail after a Dhaka court rejected the remand plea.

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

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

She was held at the health ministry for more than five hours on Monday before being handed over to police. She went there to collect information.

Her confinement and arrest triggered protests by journalists across the country.

DB TO INVESTIGATE

Detective Branch of Police (Ramna) was asked yesterday morning to investigate the case against Rozina, said Mamun ur Rashid, officer-in-charge of Shahbagh Police Station.

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

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

The complaint said Rozina secretly took photos of the documents.

Rozina's sister Sabina Parvin told reporters at Shahbagh Police Station on Monday night that her sister went to the ministry for professional purposes and received some documents from her sources there.

Rozina said she was wronged.

She made this comment in the presence of some journalists while being taken to jail.

"I'm being wronged for my reports on the health ministry," Rozina, escorted by police, said when a journalist asked if she had anything to say.

TRANSFER ORDER OF THE PLAINTIFF CANCELLED

The transfer orders of two officials of the health ministry including the plaintiff Shibbir were canceled on Tuesday.

The two deputy secretaries Shibbir Ahmed Osmani and Mohammad Masudur Rahman Mollah, were transferred on Monday.

The new office order, signed by the ministry's Deputy Secretary Anjuman Ara, was issued yesterday but was dated Tuesday.