At least 56 journalists were tortured, harassed, threatened, or sued across Bangladesh between January and March this year, according to a report by the rights body Ain o Salish Kendra.
The rights organization revealed the information in a report on three months of the rights situation in Bangladesh published on Friday.
The suing of Prothom Alo reporter Samsuzzaman Shams and Editor Matiur Rahman in a case filed under the Digital Security Act with Ramna police on Wednesday is only one of those instances, according to a statement released to the media by Abu Ahmed Faijul Kabir, senior coordinator of ASK.
The report also mentions the arrest of Raghunath Kha, Satkhira correspondent of Deepto TV and Dainik Projonmo Ekattor. Law enforcement had denied picking him up for nine hours before ultimately showing him arrested in a case.It also discusses the alleged torture of Kaler Kantho staff reporter Zahirul Islam by a Gulshan police station officer.
The rights organization demanded that the Digital Security Act be repealed and all cases brought under the law against journalists be withdrawn.
124 women and children raped
According to the report, at least 124 women and children were raped and 12 were killed after rape in the last three months. Besides, one of them committed suicide after being raped.
ASK prepared the report based on information from nine daily newspapers, online news portals and its own sources.
At least 105 women were victims of sexual harassment during this period. Two persons were killed while they were protesting assault, the ASK report said.
At least 353 children were either killed or tortured while 26 people died in different jails throughout the country, it added.
