Twenty prominent citizens have expressed concern over a complaint filed by Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Shibbir Ahmed despite the final report in the case filed by the ministry against Prothom Alo journalist Rozina Islam.
They voiced their concern in a statement issued on Thursday.
They stated that none of the provisions of the case filed against Rozina Islam can be applied to a professional journalist. According to the law, taking any information from a secret place will be punishable. However, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is not a secret place and there is no legal bar to journalists taking information from it in their professional work.
The court directed the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) on January 23 to further investigate the case against Rozina Islam. About seven months after the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DB) gave its final report in the case, the court ordered further investigation in view of the plaintiff's appeal. Earlier, in the final report, the DB said that no evidence was found to support the allegations against Rozina Islam. Because of this, in the final report, the investigating officer applied to exempt Rozina Islam from the case.
The statement said: “The health ministry did not stop harassing a female journalist performing her professional duties, even after the police investigation did not prove her wrong. We think that this behaviour of the ministry is a threat to independent journalism. We call for a fair and impartial investigation into the matter with respect for the law and the courts.”