A journalist covering the home series against South Africa was assaulted by security guards at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
Sekandar Ali, senior sports reporter of Bengali daily Alokito Bangladesh, was on his way to the ground from the indoor facilities at SBNS when he was stopped by two BCB securities for identification.
One of the security personnel asked for the accreditation card but since it was not issued by the cricket board yet, Sekandar showed them his office ID. Sekander informed he is a journalist who covers Bangladesh cricket, but that hardly satisfied the security duo who surprisingly also didn’t have any ID on them. Their only identification were apparently the walkie-talkies provided to them by the BCB!
However, at one point of their conversation one of the guards shoved Sekandar towards the metal grills at the gate and hurt his hand following which Sekandar hurried away from the place and informed his co-journalists, BCB member secretary of BCB security Mohammad Ali and BCB media manager Rabeed Imam.
“We are sorry that such an incident occurred,” apologised BCB media committee chairman Jalal Yunus. “It is certainly unexpected and we will ensure that there is a permanent solution and there is no such occurrence in the future,” the BCB director added.
The incident happened only couple of days after ad-makers Robi was caught in a scuffle with a photo journalist inside a restricted zone.
Breaching security measures during an international series is not matter of joke. However, family members of cricket board officials and known well wishers often easily manage to enter the restricted zones such as dressing rooms and playing ground and take “selfies” and autographs from the players.
Bangladesh one-day international and Twenty20 captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza was shocked and regretted the incident upon hearing. The Tigers skipper pointed out that there are security breaches in the team protocol and has requested the concern to take care of that before anything.
Mashrafe pointed out to the third ODI against India when a large number of crowd entered the ground and dressing room after the match ended and he said, “There is a protocol for everything. We all have accreditation cards even when entering the dressing-room. It is quite unfortunate that someone was physically assaulted. It is not desirable.”
“At the end of our last match, a lot of people came inside the ground, possibly from outside. Foreign players will feel insecure if such things keep happening. I saw it happen in the last series. I am sure those in charge of the security will look into it. All of us should maintain discipline. Everyone would want such things to end through discussion, before the series begins,” the veteran pacer added.
Previously there have been ample of situations when a working journalist had to face unprofessional and heinous behaviors from a BCB hired security personal inside the venue. On most cases complaints were made to the concerned board authority which included the BCB chief executive officer, the BCB media committee chairman and the BCB security consultant but only to get fake promises of such acts not being repeated again.
