2 journos held under ICT Act

The Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested two online journalists from Trishal upazila under the district early yesterday on charge of publishing a 'false and fabricated' news item involving Bangladesh Army and former chief justice SK Sinha.

The item titled “Death threats after detaining relatives, Sinha resigns,” was published in the news portal 'Trishalnews.com' on November 16.

The arrestees are Md Layes Mondol, 26, son of Md Sirajul Islam, and Md Sabid, 20, son of Shamsuddin, hailing from Trishal.

Layes is the administrator of the news portal while Md Sabid is its news editor, police said, adding that the news item also contains false and fabricated information about the president, parliament members, detective branches and family members of former chief justice SK Sinha.

During primary investigation, Layes admitted that he uploaded the news item from his ID, said Ashiqur Rahman, officer in charge (OC) of DB, Mymensingh.

“The two arrestees were handed over to Trishal Police Station in the afternoon and a case was lodged with the police station under Section 57 of ICT Act,” the OC said.

“They were produced before a Mymensingh court with a prayer for 10-day remand and the court granted seven-day remend for them,” he added.