Don’t harass, arrest 4 Feni journalists: HC to police

The High Court yesterday directed police not to harass or arrest four journalists of Feni in connection with nine criminal cases filed on charge of vandalism and subversive acts last year.

The court, however, asked the accused journalists to surrender to the trial court concerned in Feni in four weeks.

The HC bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Md Riaz Uddin Khan came up with the order after hearing nine petitions filed by the accused, seeking bail in the cases.

They accused petitioners -- Mohammad Shahadat Hossain, SM Yousuf Ali, Solaiman Hazari Dalim and Moyeen Uddin Patwari -- appeared before the HC bench for anticipatory bail in the cases.  

Their lawyer DM Kamal Hossain told reporters that the police filed nine criminal cases with four police stations in Feni on charge of vandalism and subversive acts before the general election in December 30 last year and in the cases, the names of journalists were not mentioned.

Later on, their names were included in the charge sheets of the cases after they made reports on the then Superintendent of Feni Police SM Jahangir Alam Sarkar’s negligence in discharging duty over the murder of madrasa student Nusrat Jahan Rafi, he said.

Assistant Attorney General Shahin Mridha represented the state.