Journalists Shyamal Dutta, Mozammel Haque Babu detained at border near Mymensingh

Locals detained them and brought them to the police station after they attempted to illegally enter India in a car, police say

Journalists Shyamal Dutta and Mozammel Haque Babu have been detained from the border area in Mymensingh’s Dhobaura Upazila, police say.

Shyamal, the editor of the daily Bhorer Kagoj, was the general secretary of the Jatiya Press Club while Babu is the managing director of Ekattor Television and the president of Editors Guild Bangladesh.

‘Locals’ detained four people travelling in a car as it attempted to cross the border into India between South Maizpara and Porakandulia around 6am on Monday, said Md Chan Mia, chief of Dhobaura Police Station. Police then took them into custody at the station.

The two other detainees are Ekattor Television Senior Reporter Mahbubur Rahman and driver Selim.

“They were trying to illegally flee into India,” OC Chan Mia said. “Legal action is being taken against them.”

Shyamal and Babu are named on the list of 51 journalists who members of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement had demanded be removed from their positions and banned from journalism due to ‘being involved in activities against the interests of the state and the nation’ during the previous Awami League government.

As the student-led movement reached its height, the Editors Guild, which Babu leads and Shyamal is part of, released a statement on Jul 16.

The statement said, “A faction is trying to make the quota reform movement an opponent of the great Liberation War and its valiant freedom fighters. The Editors Guild urges all parties to refrain from becoming embroiled in such divisions.”

On Aug 6, the day after the Sheikh Hasina government fell, Shyamal was detained by immigration police while going to India with his family through Brahmanbaria’s Akhaura. He had not been seen in public since then. Babu has been in hiding since the fall of the government.

Journalist couple Shakil Ahmed and Farzana Rupa were detained from Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Aug 21 while on their way to France.

Shakil was the head of news at Ekattor Television, while Rupa was the channel’s principal correspondent. They have since been remanded for interrogation twice by police in two different murder cases regarding the violence during the Anti-discrimination Student Movement’s protests.

Shakil and Rupa were also on the list of journalists the Anti-discrimination Student Movement had called to ban.

On Aug 8, after the fall of the government, Ekattor Television sacked both Shakil and Rupa.