Defamation case: Two Dainik Bangla journalists ordered to appear in court
A Cox's Bazar court has ordered two journalists of Dainik Bangla to appear in court by 27 August over a defamation case filed over a report published by the daily.
The journalists are Dainik Bangla reporters Arifuzzaman Tuhin and Acting Editor Sharifuzzaman Pintu.
Judge Asad Uddin Md Asif of Cox's Bazar Senior Judicial Magistrate Court (Sadar) gave the order on Thursday afternoon.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Based on a draft list of Yaba smugglers made by different government agencies, the news was published in Dainik Bangla on 6 January with the title 'No Badi's [former Awami League lawmaker Abdur Rahman Badi] people in the list of 255'.
According to the case statement, the report published the names of 20 people, including Shafiullah Shafi, the executive editor of the local Daily Inani, who filed a defamation case of Tk 100 crore with the Cox's Bazar senior judicial magistrate's court days later, accusing Sharifuzzaman and Arifuzzaman on the charge of publishing the news.
The court took cognizance of the case and instructed the OC of Cox's Bazar District DB Police to submit a report to the court after the investigation.
Inspector Sujan Kanti Barua of DB Police submitted a report to the court after a six-month investigation on 15 June.
The OC of DB Police ordered Inspector Sujan Kanti Barua to submit a report to the court after investigating the case. After 6 months of investigation, the investigating officer submitted the investigation report against the accused to the court on 15 June.
Inspector Sujan Kanti Barua, the investigating officer of the case, said, "During my 6-month long investigation, the news published under the title "No Bodi's people in the list of 255" published in the newspaper of the defendants mentioned the number of 255 people, but the names of 20 people were revealed.
"Also, there is no concrete evidence that the list of yaba trading mentioned and published has been prepared by any reliable agency of the government. Moreover, no information or case has been found against the plaintiff to be involved in yaba business."
He further said, "The plaintiff in the case is a journalist as well as an established businessman. It appears that the originally published news has been deliberately spread by the defendants with the intention of undermining the social status of the plaintiff.
Meanwhile, lawyers - Advocate Ayachur Rahman, Ashraful Alam Chowdhury and Ziabul Karim - representing the plaintiff in the court, said after completing the investigation over the past 6 months, the investigating officer submitted the report to the court.
The report clearly mentions that the news published about the list was not prepared by any reliable agency of the government, they said.
They added that the news has been published to undermine the social standards of journalist Shafiullah Shafi, the plaintiff in the case. That is why after the long hearing, the court ordered the defendants to appear before it.
