Dhaka Tribune's photojournalist Mahmud Hossain Opu has been assaulted by the assistant commissioner of the Chawkbazar zone of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) while taking pictures of an Iftar market in Old Dhaka.
The incident took place around 3pm on Friday, while he was taking pictures for an assignment.
Mahmud Hossain Opu said: “After Jummah prayer, I went to take pictures of Iftar items at Chawkbazar for an office assignment. At that time, some drivers obstructed me when I wanted to park my motorcycle in a human hauler stand.”
“When I protested about it, some policemen came and started to behave aggressively with me. Later a police officer grabbed my bag from behind and the assistant commissioner of Chawkbazar police station punched me in the face. At that time, when my colleagues who were with me protested the incident, the police started misbehaving with them and left the place."
Confirming the matter, Chawkbazar police station Officer-in-Charge Md Abdul Qayyum said it was a little misunderstanding.
“The matter has been reconciled,” he added.
Meanwhile, denying the assault, Assistant Commissioner Zain Uddin Mohammad Ziad said that the altercation was a trivial issue.
He told the Dhaka Tribune: "Actually, it was a misunderstanding. We were not allowing anyone to park their cars. But he tried to park his motorcycle. We just moved it.”
He added that he did not know Mahmud Hossain Opu was a photojournalist, as he could not show his ID card.
“His motorcycle did not have any 'press' marking. He could not show his identity card. Nothing would have happened if he had introduced himself as a journalist."
