3 journalists in Narsingdi arrested under Digital Security Act

Three journalists have been arrested in Narsingdi in a case filed under the Digital Security Act for publishing a quote of a police official without talking to him.

The quote was over a death in the district's Ghorashal recently.

The accused are: Ramjan Ali Pramanik (45), news editor of Dainik Grameen Darpon published in Narsnigdi; Shanto Banik (35), a reporter of the same newspaper; and Khandaker Shahin (32), publisher and editor of online portal Narsingdi Pratidin, said police.

The three were arrested from their houses Friday morning, said Jahangir Hossain, inspector of Narsingdi district Police's Special Branch yesterday.

They were sent to jail by a district court on Saturday, the police official said.

Inspector Johirul Alam, officer-in-charge of Ghorashal Police Station, filed the case under the Digital Security Act with Palash Police Station on Thursday night.

According to the case statement, the Dainik Grameen Darpon published a report with the headline "Youth beaten dead by police on charge of stealing" and Narsingdi Pratidin published the report with the headline "Man dies in Ghorashal Police Custody after police allegedly beat him" on the same incident on Thursday.

Both reports quoted Inspector Johirul Alam, said the statement.

Inspector Johirul Alam mentioned in the case that no reporter of the paper and portal contacted him in this regard.

"The senior officers of the district police were angry with me for such fabricated and baseless reports using my quote. So, I filed the case against the three journalists under the Digital Security Act in order to protect my reputation," Johirul Alam told our Brahmanbaria correspondent.

Meanwhile, Mazharul Parvez Monti, general secretary of Narsingdi Press Club, condemned the arrest of the three journalists.