2 journos face cases, threat

The reports of the two journalist siblings on encroachment on a river in coastal Patuakhali drew flak from local ruling party lawmaker and a number of 'false cases' were filed against them reportedly under political instigations.
Four cases were filed one after another against the two journalists of the Prothom Alo and the Amar Desh at Golachipa in Patuakhali--Israt Hossain Lipton and Saimon Rahman Alit--in last one week allegedly by the cronies of Awami League lawmaker Golam Moula Roni.
The cases were filed in a bid to avenge their reports on grabbing land on a riverbank and setting up a market under the direct patronage of the local lawmaker, family of the journalists claimed.
The Prothom Alo and the Amar Desh carried the reports on August 21 and on August 27.
Lipton's wife and daughter left their Golachipa town residence and moved to their village home amidst repeated threats from ruling party cadres, family members claimed.
Asked if he had a hand in filing of cases against the two journalists and coercion by the cadres loyal to him, Golam Moula Roni MP told The Daily Star, “Go to the plaintiffs and ask them why they filed the cases. If they tell you that I asked them to file the cases, I'll admit my guilt."
Roni also told a correspondent of The Daily Star to do his 'own duty' and not to phone and disturb him any further.
When contacted, Patuakhali Deputy Commissioner Md Reaz Ahmed said he was informed about some recent cases filed against a few newsmen in his district. The lawmaker had told the DC that the local journalists should take the reconciliation step first, the DC added.
The deputy commissioner also added that he had requested the MP to make a move to resolve the uneasy situation.
Tarana Halim, also a ruling party lawmaker, on Tuesday submitted a notice in parliament on the topics of repression on newsmen in Patuakhali.
Harun-or-Rashid, Golachipa upazila chairman and also president of upazila AL, told The Daily Star that harassment of journalists in Golachipa by the ruling party men is not acceptable.
On September 8, Moslem Bayati filed an extortion case against two journalist brothers with local police station at Galachipa. The second case--a rape charge against Lipton--was filed by one Nilufa Begum, wife of Selim of Chhotoshiba village under Char Kajal union in the upazila, on September 10.
Laizu Begum, another woman of the same area, filed an extortion case against Lipton and Alit claiming that they took Tk 9,000 from her assuring her of allotting a house under Sidr recovery programme implemented by the Prothom Alo. The last case was filed by Hamidullah of Golachipa municipality area on September 13 claiming that Lipton and Alit took Tk 30,000 from him promising that a house under the same programme would be allotted to him.
While police registered all these cases against the Prothom Alo and Amar Desh Golachipa correspondents, they have so far declined to entertain a case filed by a journalist on September 9 on charge of attacks on newsmen by the cadres loyal to local MP.
Patuakhali district correspondent for RTV Saluddin filed the case accusing 20/25 persons, all known as cronies of local lawmaker including Israt Hossain Abbas, president of BCL Golachipa upazila unit, as they attacked on two journalists Salahuddin, and Abu Taher Bappa, district correspondent for Bangla Vision, on September 9 when they were going to Golachipa from Patuakhali for their professional duties.
A Rab-8 team rescued the journalists from the gang's grip after two hours on the day. The ruling party cadres also kept confined three more journalists--Sankar Lal Das, Patuakhali correspondent for the daily Prothom Alo and ABC Radio, Khondokar Delwar Jalali, Patuakhali correspondent for Channel One and Hanjala Shihab, Patuakhali correspondent for Digonta TV, on the day in an attempt to prevent them from covering river grabbing issue.
When asked, SM Khaled, officer-in-charge (OC) of Golachipa police station, told The Daily Star that police are still assessing the merit of the case that journalist Salauddin intended to lodge.
The latest Patuakhali incident apart, harassment either in the form of physical torture or filing false cases is on the rise in recent days across the country. At least 130 journalists fell prey to various types of harassments in the country since January, according to Odhikar, a human rights watchdog.
It says two journalists were killed, 46 injured, 11 assaulted, 13 attacked, one abducted, 43 threatened and three sued in past eight months till August.
On September 2, another rights body--Human Rights Today Bangladesh (HRTB)--reported that unidentified terrorists at Mirer Bazar in Gazipur killed the executive director of 'Samprotik Somoy' MM Ahsan Bari on August 26 this year. The HRTB also says a total of 25 journalists were killed in last 16 years in the country.
Benapol correspondent of the daily Sangbad Debul Kumar Das was seriously injured by a group of criminals at Benapol in Jessore on 13 August.
In Chuadanga, the Amar Desh correspondent Dalim Hossain has been put behind bars after a ruling party lawmaker from Chuadanga, Solaiman Haque Joarder Salon and his brother municipality mayor Reazul Islam filed a case on September 1 against 80 including two journalists Dalim Hossain and Shah Alam of the Prothom Alo.