Three Bangladeshi journalists land in jail in digital security case

A special court in Narsingdi has sent three journalists to jail after police arrested them on charges of false attribution under the Digital Security Act.

The arrestees are - Ramjan Ali Pramanik, news editor of local daily the Grameen Darpan, its Staff Reporter Shanto Banik and Shawon Khandaker Shahin, Madhabdi Press Club General Secretary and publisher of online news portal Narsingdi Protidin.

They are accused of falsely attributing a policeman in reports about the death of a man after alleged torture in custody

They were sent to the district jail after their arrests at home on Friday, police said on Saturday.

The family of an autorickshaw driver named “Mannan” alleged that he was beaten to death by police on Apr 28.

The locals took to the Narsingdi-Ghorashal road to protest against the incident, witnesses said.

“Mannan had heart problems. He fell sick while being interrogated. He died after he was taken to hospital,” Narsingdi Additional Superintendent of Police Shahed Ahmed told bdnews24.com.

Many news outlets covered the incident.

Later, Ghorashal Police Camp Inspector Md Zahirul Alam filed a case against the three journalists accusing them of publishing information falsely attributed to him.