Three journalists harassed by Jamaat lawyer, judge wants to send them to jail

While gathering news, some pro-Jamaat lawyers harassed three journalists in the court premises. Later, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Hasib Ullah Pias summoned the three journalists to the dock and threatened to send them to jail. They were released after some time on the condition of an apology. The Court Reporters Unity (CRU) has protested and strongly condemned the incident. The incident took place on Tuesday (October 28) at the premises of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka.
According to video footage and eyewitness sources, a day was set for submitting the investigation report in the death case of BUET student Fardin Noor Parash. His girlfriend Amatullah Bushra appeared in court. Fardin’s father Nur Uddin Rana also appeared in court. Later, the accused Bushra left the court.
Then Kaler Kantho’s own reporter Masud Rana, Ekushey Television’s reporter Ariful Islam, and The Business Standard newspaper’s reporter Ariful Islam went to take video footage of the accused. However, Rezaul Haque Riaz, a member of the executive committee of the pro-Jamaat Lawyers and Lawyers Association (Jamaat Panel), and many others, including Jamaat Rokon and lawyer Akhtaruzzaman Dalim of Hatirjheel Police Station, stopped them from taking the video.
When the journalists said that they were taking the video for professional reasons, they became more aggressive. At that time, they were asked to take the journalists to the judge. However, the journalists said that the court’s permission was not required to take pictures or videos of the accused. Hearing this, the lawyers present surrounded them from all sides in front of the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Hasib Ullah Piyas. At one point, lawyer Akhtaruzzaman Dalim took away the journalist’s mobile phone.
At that time, he started threatening the plaintiff in the case, Nur Uddin Rana. Addressing the plaintiff, he said, “You have called the journalists.” Then Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Hasib Ullah Piyas summoned the three journalists to his court. At this time, lawyer Rezaul Haque Riaz fled. Then the judge made the three journalists stand in the dock.
The judge told the journalists, “You introduce yourselves.” After learning the identities of the journalists, the judge said, “You have created a ruckus in front of the court. It is now 11:38 pm, you will be sent to jail. There will be no more talk. You should all take your mobile phones.”
After about two minutes, the judge said, “If you apologize unconditionally, I will release you. Otherwise, you will have to go to jail. There is no exemption.” Later, the court allowed the three journalists to be released. Journalist Masud Rana said, “I went to gather news. But some lawyers prevented us from recording videos and created a crowd. Later, the judge became very enthusiastic and called the three of us to the dock. Knowing our identities, the judge said, “You sit down. You will be sentenced and sent to jail.” The Business Standard newspaper reporter Ariful Islam said, “When we went to record a video of the accused, their lawyers got angry. They took away the mobile phone of one of them. They tried to force us to take us to the judge to record the video. When we did not want to go, they behaved very badly. At that time, a judge from another court called us to the courtroom. Then they asked us to go to the dock. The judge threatened to send us to jail without giving us any chance to defend ourselves. It was like an unconditional apology without committing any crime. The matter is very sad.” Asked about the complaint, lawyer Akhtaruzzaman Dalim said, “There was a misunderstanding. Later the judge called us and resolved it.” Lawyer Rezaul Haque Riaz said, “An unexpected incident has happened. I have nothing to say in this regard.” Liton Mahmud, president of the Court Reporters Unity of Dhaka, said in this regard that the attempt to attack journalists is highly condemnable. While gathering news outside the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Hasibullah Piyas on this day, he did not behave in any unprofessional manner that tarnished or disrupted the image of the court. The journalists were only performing their professional duties. There, Jamaat lawyers were harassed by the journalists. At that time, the noise of those lawyers spoiled the atmosphere of the court. There is video footage of which. Condemning, he further said, “Without considering these considerations, the judge of the concerned court, Hasibullah Piyas, became overzealous and called three journalists and threatened to send them to jail. Such behavior from a judge is not desirable. Which is highly condemnable. I demand departmental action including the removal of that judge. We will submit a written complaint to the Chief Justice in this regard.”