Sherpur Correspondent

Police arrested two journalist leaders of Nakla Press Club in two separate cases to create a disturbance under the Special Powers Act (SPA) and sabotage in Nakla, Sherpur and sent them to jail through the court.

The journalist leaders who were imprisoned are - General Secretary of Nakla Press Club in Sherpur district, Mosharraf Hossain Sarkar Babu, Upazila Correspondent of Daily Kaler Kantho and Daily Kalbela and Organizing Secretary of the same organization, Daily Alokit Pratidin and The Daily Morning Glori Md. Nur Hossain.

According to local sources, on Saturday night, 10-15 student journalist leader Nur Hossain was beaten up by a group of people at Holpatti intersection in Nakla town on his way home around 8 pm and handed over to the police. Later, the police detained him and at around 11:30 pm, he was arrested in a case filed under Section 15 (3) of the Special Powers Act on December 12 last year.

Later, on Sunday afternoon, when he was taken to court, the court ordered Nur Hossain to be sent to jail.

Meanwhile, on Sunday afternoon, when Press Club General Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Sarkar Babu went to the court premises to see journalist Nur Hossain out of consideration for his colleagues and a sense of responsibility to the organization, he was also arrested.

According to relevant sources, he was later shown arrested in the murder case of Shaheed Sabuj in the anti-discrimination student movement.

Several students including S.M. Masum, Rayyan Al Mahdi Ananta, H.D. Sumon, students of the anti-discrimination movement, said that journalist Nur Hossain had been sharing various types of posts on social media Facebook. Therefore, he had been warned before. But since he did not correct it, he was handed over to the law.

There is panic among journalists working in Nakla Upazila on this issue! Several journalists in Nakla Upazila have gone to secret places fearing for their honor instead of reporting. They have also deactivated their respective Facebook IDs. They have turned off their mobile phones and deactivated WhatsApp and Messenger.

Several local teachers and educated people said that the job of journalists is to publish accurate and objective news based on accurate information. They have no party affiliation. However, since no visible program or program of any other political party was implemented during the Awami League regime for almost a decade and a half, local journalists were forced to publish news of various programs of the Awami League, which is not the fault of journalists. They also commented that no journalist becomes a member of any party just by reporting on any political party.

In this regard, the president, vice president, joint general secretary, organizing secretary of the Nakla Press Club. It is not possible to contact the office secretary and other responsible persons as their mobile phones are turned off and their WhatsApp and Messenger are kept on the inactive car.

Meanwhile, journalists working in the district and upazila are expressing strong condemnation through various media regarding the arrest of journalists and demanding a fair investigation. They have made a humble request to political party leaders, activists, law enforcement agencies and other concerned parties to refrain from unnecessarily harassing anyone in the newly independent country.