Staff Reporter :
The journalists’ leaders on Saturday demanded judicial probe into the attack of a journalist by the Detective Branch of police in Barisal.
They claimed that a DB team tortured Sumon Hasan, camera person of channel DBC News, intentionally on Tuesday.
The leaders said this while speaking at a human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club organised by Barisal Division Journalists’ Welfare Association (BDJWA) on Saturday.
BDJWA President Azizul Islam Bhuiyan presided over the programme while its General
Secretary Aminul Islam Mirza moderated it. President of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul and its Secretary General Omar Faruque, Joint Secretaries of Jatiya Press Club Shaheed Chowdhury and Elias Khan, President of Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) Abu Jafar Surja and its General Secretary Sohel Haider Chowdhury addressed the programme, among others.
Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul said, “How do they dare torturing an innocent person without permission of the higher authority.
Elias Khan said, the police have made the journalists their rivals. The police have already lost their image for their misbehavior and misconduct in the society.
It may be mentioned that the DB men clubbed Sumon when he rushed to collect footage of the anti-drug drive of the DB on the Beauty Cinema Road of Barisal city on Tuesday.
When Sumon sought some information from the DB members and exposed his identity, they assaulted him and took him into the DB office at Battala before torturing him further.
Later, Sumon was admitted to Sher-e Bangla Medical College Hospital for treatment.
Journalists rushed to the DB Office and contacted senior officials of BMP, including Deputy Commissioner (DB) Uttam Kumar Pal, after hearing of the incident.
Subsequently, Sumon described the torture before senior police officials and journalists while showing the injury marks in his body.
Barisal Reporters Unity, Barisal Press Club, and the Photo Journalist Association have condemned the incident and demanded exemplary punishment to those who tortured, announcing a human chain demonstration to be organized in this regard.
Later, eight members of the Detective Branch (DB) of Barisal Metropolitan Police (BMP) were closed on Tuesday.
Of them three DB police men were suspended on Thursday night and Friday over the incident.
