Journo taken from home at dead of night, jailed
A mobile court under a taskforce of Kurigram district administration sentenced a journalist to one-year imprisonment early yesterday after he was arrested from his home on charges of possessing narcotics.
Later around 1:30am yesterday, the mobile court sent the journalist -- Ariful Islam, Kurigram correspondent of Bangla Tribune -- to jail, said officials at the district administration.
Ariful's wife Mansarina Mitu, however, said her husband was innocent and that he became "a victim of vindictiveness by the district's deputy commissioner for writing against irregularities and corruption".
DC Sultana Pervin denied the allegation and said Ariful was punished as the taskforce found illegal drugs in his possession.
As the news spread, journalists, including Ariful's colleagues, strongly protested the incident and demanded his immediate release.
The colleagues said online newspaper Bangla Tribune ran a news report, written by Ariful, in May last year saying that the DC re-excavated and renovated a pond in Kurigram, using money from government funds and donations from individuals.
Later, the DC named the pond "Sultana Sorobor" after herself, according to the report.
The report made the DC angry, said Ariful's colleagues, adding that Ariful, 36, also wrote several other reports on alleged irregularities by the district administration.
Talking to The Daily Star, Ariful's wife Mitu said they were about to go to sleep around 11:45pm on Friday when "seven to eight Ansar members, accompanied by two to three magistrates" stormed into their home and started beating her husband.
"When I tried to protect my husband, they threatened to beat me up as well," she said.
"When I asked them what did my husband do, they didn't give me any answer. At one stage, they handcuffed my husband and dragged him out of the home. He was taken to the DC office, where he was beaten up again," Mitu said.
She alleged that Ariful was tortured as he wrote on corruption and irregularities by the district administration, involving the DC. "This is why the DC is angry with my husband."
She feared Ariful might be tortured in jail as well.
Quoting Mitu, Bangla daily Prothom Alo reported that while beating up Ariful, one of the men said, "You are causing disturbance".
Contacted, DC Sultana said a drive was conducted on Ariful's house in Kurigram town's Vocational intersection area around 12:10am yesterday. During the drive, the taskforce members found a bottle of alcohol and 150gram marijuana in Ariful's possession, which is why he was arrested.
Later, the mobile court sentenced him one year in jail, she said.
She termed the allegation against her baseless and claimed that d she was not aware of the drive beforehand.
Talking to this correspondent, local lawmaker (Kurigram-2 constituency) Panir Uddin Ahamed claimed Ariful was implicated in a false case.
He also said he would discuss "different irregularities of the DC" in parliament.
Meanwhile, Farhad Hossain, state minister for the public administration ministry, said the divisional commissioner of Rangpur was asked to look into the incident. "Necessary steps would be taken within a day or two," he said, reports Prothom Alo.
CONFUSION OVER THE DRIVE
The Prothom Alo also reported that the district administration and officials of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) at Kurigram district office came up with contradictory statements about the anti-narcotics drive on Ariful's home.
DC Sultana said the drive was conducted as asked by the DNC. "The taskforce conducted the raid as usual. A magistrate from the district administration, some police members, five Ansar members and three members of narcotics department constituted the team which carried out the drive," she said.
However, Abu Zafar, assistant director of DNC's Kurigram office, said he was not in the area when Ariful was arrested. He said he came to know about the drive from one of his colleagues -- Inspector Zahid -- only around noon yesterday.
"Zahid told me that he was asked by the district administration to join the drive on Friday night," said Abu Zafar, reports Prothom Alo.
PROTEST
In a joint statement, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) expressed concern over Ariful's arrest.
They also voiced concern over several recent incidents of harassment and repression on journalists.
"A vested quarter is trying to create a rift between journalists and the government," said the statement.
Kurigram Press Club General Secretary Ataur Rahman Biplob said, "We demand Ariful's unconditional release. We will continue the protest if he is not released in 24 hours," he said.
Leaders of BFUJ and DUJ threatened a tough movement if the demand was not met.
JAILING ILLEGAL: TIB
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) yesterday termed illegal the jailing of Ariful at midnight, saying such a blatant misuse of a law goes against the constitutional commitment of rule of law and is tantamount to ignoring the press freedom.
In a statement, it said people would lose confidence in the administration and the government if those involved in such a despicable incident is not investigated immediately.
Referring to news reports published in the media, TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said, "There are specific rules and directives from the highest court on running mobile courts in the country. According to those, it is illegal to run a mobile court after picking up any citizen from home at night."
(Our Lalmonirhat correspondent contributed to this report)
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