CIC apprises Arafat of inquiry into incident of jailing journalist through mobile court

Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Dr Abdul Malek has apprised State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat of investigation activity into the incident of handing down imprisonment for Dainik Desh Rupantar's Nokla upazila correspondent Shafiuzzaman Rana of Sherpur district by a mobile court.

The CIC informed the state minister at a meeting at his office at Bangladesh Secretariat Monday afternoon.

Arafat extended thanks to the Information Commission for submitting the report quickly after carrying out investigation into the incident of jailing the journalist.

At meeting with the CIC, he said that the government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina believes in complete freedom of the media and professional journalists.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is against the unwanted harassment on any professional journalist and it is committed to protecting any professional journalist, the state minister added.

Arafat also said that people have the right to get information.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina enacted the Right to Information Act to ensure transparency and accountability in government work, he said, adding, under this law, people's right to information should be ensured.

The CIC has also informed the State Minister that Information Commissioner Shahidul Alam Jhinuk has already submitted the investigation report to the Information Commission.

He also said legal action will be taken in this regard tomorrow. Dr Malek also told the state minister that both parties involved in the incident will be summoned to the Information Commission. At this time, he also informed the state minister about the overall activities of the Information Commission.

Information commissioners Shahidul Alam Jhinuk and Masuda Bhatti were present on the occasion.

Earlier, the commission assigned Information Commissioner Shahidul Alam Jhinuk to investigate into the incident as per the section 25(5) of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2009, following publication of a report on the first page of a daily newspaper with the headline "Desh Rupantor journalist was jailed for seeking information" on March 7 in the incident of handing down imprisonment for Nakla Upazila correspondent Shafiuzzaman Rana of Sherpur district of Dainik Desh Rupantar by a mobile court .

Immediately taking cognizance of the incident of handing down imprisonment for journalist, the state minister talked to Chief Information Commissioner Dr Abdul Malek and put emphasis on carrying out proper investigation into the incident. The state minister monitored the matter constantly.

To investigate into the incident, Information Commissioner Shahidul Alam Jhinuk visited the Sherpur district jail on March 10 and talked to Shafiuzzaman Rana and recorded his (Rana's) statement. He also visited journalist Rana's residence in Nakla upazila in the afternoon on the same day and talked to Rana's wife.

Later on the same day, the information commissioner talked to Nakla Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Sadia Ummul Banin at her office and talked about the journalist's application for information and examined the documents of awarding the sentence to the journalist.

Source: BSS