Star journo, son sued in Jhenidah
Complainant doesn't know how it was filed
The Jhenidah correspondent of The Daily Star and his son, who is also a local reporter of another national daily, have been made accused in a case though the complainant doesn't know them at all.
The case filed for vandalising a campaign office of Awami League in the district's Kaliganj upazila mentions 19 named and over 50 unnamed persons as the accused.
But Akter Hossain, the complainant, said he neither filed the case nor knew any of the accused including Azibor Rahman and his son Sohag Hossain, Kaliganj correspondent of daily Jugantor.
Akter claimed he is one of the four persons who were asked by police to sign a paper as witnesses to the alleged attack.
“The OC just took my signature on a paper. But I can't say how the case was filed,” he told The Daily Star over the phone yesterday.
“You better talk to the OC,” Akter, president of Kastovanga union unit of Swechchhasebak League, a pro-AL organisation, said in reply to a query.
Yunus Ali, officer-in-charge of Kaliganj Police Station, said, “He [Akter] filed the case on behalf of Awami League men. They filed the case and we recorded it.”
The official denied the allegation that police made Akter sign a paper. “I will talk to him and check if anyone forcibly took his signature. Why would I take his signature?” he said.
“A case has been filed. If the accused are found not guilty, why will we arrest them? ... Those found innocent will be dropped from the case after probe.”
The case was filed with Kaliganj Police Station on Sunday hours after a story sent by Azibor was run by this paper under the headline “Fear of attack, arrest grips BNP candidates in Jhenidah.”
According to the case statement, the accused wielding sharp weapons, sticks and bomb-like objects attacked the AL campaign office in Jamtola area Sunday morning and vandalised and torched it before fleeing away.
And it happened right before the eyes of Akter, reads the statement.
But talking to this newspaper, the complainant said he was not present during the incident but arrived there learning about it from others over the phone. “I do not know who set fire to the AL office.”
During his conversation with The Daily Star, Akter wanted to know the name of Jhenidah correspondent of this paper.
When told that it's Azibor Rahman, Akter said, “I do not know him at all.”
Asked about the other named accused in the case, he questioned, “How can I say who were made accused in the case?”
About the case, Azibor said, “This is completely a false and baseless case. I do not even know the location of the campaign office.”