Siam Sarower Jamil, Dhaka, May 18
A Dhaka court on Tuesday sent the Bangladeshi journalist Rozina Islam to jail in a case lodged with Shahbagh police station by a health ministry official on Monday night.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jasim passed the order rejecting a 5-day remand prayer filed by the police for interrogating her in the case lodged by a health ministry official alleging that she had taken photos of official documents having ‘important information of the state’.
The court also set May 20 for holding a hearing on the petition seeking bail for Rozina.
Md Shibbir Ahmed Osmani, a deputy secretary of the health ministry, filed the case after Rozina was handed over to Shahbagh police in the evening after keeping her confined for five hours in the secretariat.
She was confined to a room for five hours since afternoon allegedly for taking documents from the office of the health secretary.
Fellow journalists rushed to the ministry to rescue Rozina but failed as higher authorities did not respond to their requests. Rozina recently wrote some investigative stories on irregularities in the health sector recruitment and purchase.
The senior reporter was allegedly harassed, her cellphone was seized and she fell unconscious during confinement.
Rozina could barely walk on her way to the police station. She needed the help of cops.
Rozina’s husband Monir Islam Mithu said that his wife was a victim of vengeance since she exposed several health-related scams with her reporting recently.
Rozina complained to journalists that she was assaulted by the employees at the secretary’s office.
Amnesty International, CPJ Asia, South Asian Women in Media (SAWM), Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, Ain o Shalish Kendra also condemned the harassment of Rozina.
