TBS journo assault: 5-day remand sought for arrested brick kiln manager
The police have sought a five-day remand for Kanchan Kumar Turi, the manager of a brick kiln in Rangunia, Chattogram, in the case of kidnapping and assaulting Abu Azad, staff correspondent of The Business Standard for collecting news on illegal brick kilns.
On Wednesday, the Chattogram Judicial Magistrate Court of Awlad Hossain Muhammad Junaid fixed 1 January next for its hearing.
The court fixed 1 January for hearing of Kanchan's bail application and ordered the police to send him to jail.
Kanchan, son of Jeevan Krishna Turi, a resident of Ward 5 of Rajanagar Union Parishad, was arrested from the upazila's Ranihat area around 11:45pm on Monday.
The plaintiff's lawyer and Human Rights Foundation Secretary General Advocate Zia Habib Ahsan told TBS that the incident of kidnapping journalist Abu Azad at gunpoint and assaulting him while working on a report on illegal and environmentally harmful brick kilns was barbaric.
Rangunia Police Station Officer-In-Charge (Investigation) and investigating officer of the case Khan Nurul Islam said it had been proved in the preliminary investigation that Kanchan was directly involved in the incident.
"I have applied for a five-day remand for further interrogation…Hopefully, we will be able to arrest the main accused Mohiuddin Talukder Mohan as well as the others, including UP Chairman Siraj Uddin Chowdhury if we can take him to remand," he said. "Besides, the drive is going on to recover the weapon used for abducting the journalist."
Meanwhile, rights organisations, including the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which promotes press freedom worldwide, have expressed their concerns and condemned the incident of assaulting a journalist while discharging his professional duties.
National Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh Human Rights Foundation, Chattogram Press Club and Chattogram Journalists Union have expressed concerns over the torture of the on-duty journalists.
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission in a statement, has instructed the Chattogram Deputy Commissioner to investigate the incident and submit the report to the commission by 1 February.
Terming the incident as against human rights, the Constitution and freedom of speech while discharging professional duties, Bangladesh Human Rights Foundation, in another joint statement signed by 101 lawyers, said that it helps the state and the administration if they ensure the security of the person.
They demanded immediate arrest and exemplary punishment of the public enemies who obstructed the journalist from collecting news on illegal brick kilns. They also expressed their concern about the inaction of the environment department in this regard.
They also vowed to provide necessary legal assistance to the victim journalist, saying that the image of the country will be tarnished in the international arena due to the persecution of journalists.