Facts and alternative facts
Media was the recipient of severe criticism of some ruling Awami League MPs including Leader of the House Shiekh Hasina during a discussion in parliament on Sunday, January 22.
Participating in the discussion on an obituary motion on AL MP Manzurul Islam Liton, they blasted the media for not writing, as they claimed the truth behind an incident of shooting of a minor boy allegedly by Liton.
The shooting incident in 2015 in Gaibandha triggered public outcry. Media extensively ran reports on it. All leading national dailies Prothom Alo, Ittefaq, Samakal, Kaler Kantho, Janakantha and The Daily Star in their almost identical reports alleged that the MP shot the boy.
The family members of the victim and locals were the sources of the media reports. Victim's father also filed a case against the MP accusing him of attempting to murder his son.
But in parliament, the ruling party MPs came up with a different version of the incident. They claimed that criminals were lying in ambush there to kill MP Liton and he fired in the air in self defence. They claimed that MP Liton did not shoot the boy.
Sundarganj Police Station of Gaibandha in its investigation into the incident, however, found a different story, one that all the media reported.
It did not find any incident of criminals lying in ambush to kill Liton as was claimed in parliament to criticise the media.
At the end of thorough investigation, police submitted the charge sheet against MP Liton to a Gaibandha court to prosecute him on charges of attempting to murder and voluntarily causing injury by dangerous weapons under sections 307 and 324 of Penal Code.
"The offences under sections 307 and 324 of Penal Code against accused Manzurul Islam Liton were primarily proven," said the charge sheet submitted to the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate on April 1 last year.
It prayed for holding trial of the lawmaker in open court.
Describing the incident, the charge sheet said, and we quote: "On October 2, 2015 wounded Sourav Mia, a 10 year old boy, was taking a morning walk with his uncle at Golapcharan village in Gaibandha. MP Liton was returning to home on his pajero jeep. He found Sourav and called the boy to come near to him. As Sourav refused, accused Manzurul Islam Liton became angry with him and opened fire with his pistol to kill Sourav. Bullets hit both legs of the boy wounding him."
The charge sheet further stated, and we quote: "The witnesses took wounded Sourav to the hospital. Ballistic report of pistol was reviewed during the investigation and it was found that the fire was shot with the confiscated pistol."
As the incident generated huge outcry, the government also moved to bring MP Liton to book.
The law enforcement agency members were hunting for Liton as he went into hiding after the incident.
Liton filed two separate petitions to the HC on October 12 seeking anticipatory bail. Both the petitions were rejected. The HC asked the lawmaker to surrender before a lower court in Gaibandha by October 18, creating confusion as to whether or not Liton could be arrested before that date.
In such a situation, the attorney general's office moved against the HC's order on surrender by filing an appeal with the Appellate Division. Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain on October 14 stayed the HC order clearing the way for Liton's arrest.
Detectives detained MP Liton in the capital's Uttara on the night of October 14. A team of detectives left Dhaka with Liton for Gaibandha the same night to hand him over to Gaibandha police.
Liton was produced before a Gaibandha court the next day. His bail petition was rejected and he was sent to jail.
He was, however, granted an ad interim bail by the Gaibandha court on November 8 last year so that he could attend the parliament session scheduled for that afternoon. Later, he got bail.
He filed a petition to the court for discharging him from the charge. The petition was not disposed off. The court fixed January 5 this year as the date for hearing for framing charge against him to begin the trial of the case, his lawyer Sirajul Islam Babu told The Daily Star yesterday.
With his death on December 31, the case proceeding could not be resumed on January 5.
The sudden statements by ruling party MPs in parliament on Sunday blasting the media for "misreporting" about the shooting incident thus stands in total contradiction of the charge sheet by the police.
Interestingly the claims of "ambush" and MP Liton's firing in "self defence" was never mentioned earlier neither by police, not by local AL party members and even by Liton himself, though he said many other things about the shooting incident.
Comments