Female journalist held, sent to jail in Bangladesh

A Bangladesh court on Tuesday sent a female reporter of a leading newspaper to jail in a case lodged by a health ministry official on Monday night, reported New Age, a leading English language newspaper published from Dhaka.

The Metropolitan Magistrate Court, however, rejected a 5-day remand prayer filed by the police for interrogating the daily Prothom Alo senior reporter Rozina Islam in the case alleging that she had taken photos of official documents having ‘important information of the state’.

The court also set May 20 for holding hearing on the petition seeking bail for Rozina.

A deputy secretary of the health ministry, filed the case after Rozina was handed over to Shahbagh police on Monday evening after keeping her confined for five hours in the secretariat.

Fellow journalists rushed to the ministry to rescue Rozina but failed as higher authorities did not respond to their requests. Rozina recently wrote some investigative stories on irregularities in the health sector recruitment and purchase.

The female journalist was allegedly harassed, her cellphone was seized and she fell unconscious during confinement.

Rozina complained to journalists that she was assaulted by the employees at the secretary’s office.