Journalists stand by colleague sued under section 57

Journalists yesterday gave a 48-hour ultimatum to withdraw a case filed by a judge against a bdnews24.com journalist under section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act.

They threatened to go for tougher movements, including besieging of the information ministry, on Sunday if their demand is not met by that time.

The journalists demanded that the section 57 be scrapped during the ongoing parliament session as it is misused to harass newspersons.

They were addressing a human chain in front of the capital's Jatiya Press Club protesting the case filed against reporter Golam Mujtaba Dhruba for his report, published on June 11.

The report says that a truck, which was parked on a road in Reserve Tunki area for shifting of the judge's house, blocked the way for an ill child, who was being taken to a hospital.

According to the report, this created an altercation between the family of the child and the employee of the judge. Later, the judge's employee filed a case against two people, including uncle of the child.

Two days after publishing the report, Senior Assistant Judge Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman filed the case against Dhruba under the section 57 with Manikganj Sadar Police Station.

The journalists said the report was prepared and published maintaining all journalistic rules and ethics. Dhaka Reporters Unity President Shakhawat Hossain Badsha, among others, spoke. Meanwhile, journalists formed a human chain before Savar Press Club outside the capital with the same demand.