Journo Tanu gets bail in DSA case
His report was on alleged irregularities in food given to Covid-19 patients in Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital.
But the hospital authorities alleged that journalist Tanvir Hasan Tanu did the report with false information with the intent to deteriorate the law and order, push the government in danger, and tarnish the image of the hospital and its staffers.
For this, the hospital's superintendent Mohammad Nadirul Aziz on Friday filed a case against him and two other journalists with Thakurgaon Sadar Police Station under the Digital Security Act (DSA).
The two other correspondents are Rahim Shubho, of online news portal News Bangla, and Abdul Latif Litu, of Bangladesh Pratidin.
Police arrested Tanu, the district correspondent of Jagonews24, after he went to the police station upon knowing about the case on Saturday night. As he fell sick in custody, police took him to hospital.
They cuffed one of his hands with the metal headboard of the hospital bed, to ensure that the journalist does not escape.
Meanwhile, a Thakurgaon court granted him bail yesterday, considering his illness, as he was suffering from post-Covid-19 complexities.
Thakurgaon Senior Judicial Magistrate Arifur Rahman passed the order, rejecting police prayer for a five-day remand.
"They sued me because I revealed some irregularities, and was looking for information regarding some other irregularities in the hospital," Tanu told The Daily Star after his release.
His arrest over publishing the report on July 5 titled "Allocation Tk 300, but patients get food worth around Tk 70", stirred the journalist community to protest.
Many took to social media, demanding immediate withdrawal of the case and investigation into the reported irregularities.
Journalists and rights activists have long been demanding scraping of the DSA, saying that the law has been misused against journalists and others to muzzle voice.
Last year, as many as 457 people of all professions were prosecuted and arrested in 198 cases filed under the DSA, says UK-based Article 19 in its annual report.
Of them, 75 were journalists, it added.
"The case filed over Tanu's report is an attack on free press," said Mansur Ali, president of Thakurgaon Press Club.
"It's not acceptable ... journalists risk their lives to identify irregularities and help the authorities address them and ensure better facilities during the pandemic," he told our Thakurgaon correspondent.
The local journalist leader expressed concern and condemnation over the case filed under the DSA and demanded its immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
Tanu's family made similar demands.
"... we demanded amendment to the black law which created panic among journalists," Tanu's elder brother Mahabur Alam Sohag told this newspaper.
He said the hospital authorities lodged the case to harass his brother though the report was fact-based. Even, the hospital authorities admitted in the case statement that there was a disruption in food supplied to patients for a couple of days in June, he said.
He expressed gratitude to the journalist community for support and raising their voice against the case.
Apart from working for Jagonews24, Tanu is the district correspondent of private television channel Independent TV and Bangla daily Ittefaq.