Journalist allegedly beaten, thrown into police van for filming assault on woman

A journalist has alleged that he was thrown into a police van and tortured after filming police personnel beating a woman at Dhaka's Bijoy Sarani. The victim, Bulbul Hossain, works as a mobile journalist for private television channel Global Television.

According to the complaint, the incident took place around 5:30pm on Tuesday, August 4, at the Bijoy Sarani signal. Bulbul Hossain filed a written complaint with the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner on Thursday, August 6.

In his complaint, he said he saw several police personnel beating a woman following an altercation at the Bijoy Sarani signal. As part of his professional duty, he began filming the incident. When police saw him recording, around 20 to 25 officers allegedly charged at him and forced him into a police van.

Bulbul claimed that once inside the van, police officers questioned him about why he was filming and pressured him to delete the footage. Despite revealing his professional identity, he refused to delete the video, after which he was beaten. He was later rescued when locals gathered at the scene.

He also mentioned in the complaint that he sought medical treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital following the incident.

Bulbul Hossain said he had only filmed the incident and was trying to get statements from both the woman and the police officers involved. However, he ended up being the one subjected to torture.

He further said that although 24 hours had passed since filing the complaint with the DMP Commissioner, no one had contacted him yet.

Efforts to reach officials of the DMP's Media and Public Relations Division for comment were unsuccessful.