2 journalists taken to police station in handcuffs by AC Land

Two journalists were detained for reportedly making a brawl and video at the office of the Assistant Commissioner (Land) in Chandina of Cumilla. At that time, the police took away their mobile phones and took them to the police station in handcuffs. The incident took place around 2 pm on Wednesday. They were released upon written bond around 4 pm.

The two journalists are Abdul Alim, the local daily Amar Shohor's Debidwar correspondent, and Russell Sarkar, the Debidwar Upazila correspondent of the Daily Manabzamin. They alleged that they were taken to the police station in handcuffs for making a video of Assistant Commissioner (Land) Faisal Al Noor's bad behavior. When they went to the police station, he forcibly took their mobile phones and deleted the pictures and videos. Later, they were made to forcibly sign a written bond.

In response to the complaint, Assistant Commissioner (Land) Faisal Al Noor claimed that the entire incident happened due to a misunderstanding. He did not know about the two until the handcuffs were put on. Later, the two sides sat down and resolved the matter.

Journalist Abdul Alim said, "Today (April 1) was the date of the hearing of a petition filed by my cousin's family. At 11 am, journalist Russell Sarkar and I went to the land office. At 2:20 pm, we asked AC Land (Faisal Al Noor) whether the hearing would be held today. At that time, AC Land got agitated and started behaving badly with us. He noticed when I took out my mobile phone from my pocket and recorded a video of his bad behavior. At that time, he tried to forcibly take the mobile phone from me, but I stopped him. Enraged, he ordered the police to handcuff both of us and take us to the police station. The police handcuffed us and took us to the police station. At that time, we said several times that we are journalists. Why are you handcuffing us? Then the police said, "It's the magistrate's order, we have nothing to do."

Abdul Alim alleged, "After taking me to the police station, AC Land forcibly took away my mobile phone, unlocked it, and deleted all the pictures and videos from the gallery. Later, we were forcibly taken to give a bond saying that we would not go too far with this."

In this regard, Faisal Al Noor said, "I was conducting a hearing at the time of the incident. At that time, they entered my office. I said, you will be called after the hearing. But they said, we have to end it now. At one point, I saw that they had started the video without permission. I was extremely embarrassed. I was forced to report the matter to the police. The police came and handcuffed them due to their disorderly behavior. They did not say, 'Journalist' until they were handcuffed. When I came to know about the matter, I immediately informed the police and untied their handcuffs."

Meanwhile, on Wednesday evening, a picture of the two journalists in handcuffs went viral on social media platform Facebook. Journalists working in Cumilla strongly condemned the incident. Cumilla Press Club President Kazi Enamul Haque Faruk said, "Journalists are the conscience of society. Journalists should be allowed to work freely. If journalists make a mistake while working, anyone can take legal action through the Press Institute. But our hearts have been hurt by handcuffing the hands of two journalists. We are praying for appropriate justice. The administration must immediately take necessary action against this AC Land."

Cumilla Deputy Commissioner Md. Reza Hasan said in this regard, "The matter has also come to our attention. However, I am not yet fully aware of the entire incident. Even then, I will say that such an incident is regrettable. Journalists are our mirror, we are sincere towards journalists. We will investigate and take action in this incident after knowing the details."