Rozina Islam, a special correspondent of Prothom Alo, has been exempted from charges three years and three months after a case was filed against her under the Official Secrets Act.
Sultan Shohag Uddin, the additional chief metropolitan magistrate of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s (CMM) Court in Dhaka, passed the order on Wednesday, according to her lawyer Prashant Karmaker.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, the lawyer said the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) had submitted its final investigation report concerning the Prothom Alo journalist. The court accepted the report on Wednesday and cleared Rozina of the charges.
According to court sources, PBI inspector Nur Nabi Sarker requested the court to acquit Rozina Islam as the final report could not substantiate the allegations brought against her.
In its order, the court stated that it was granting the request as the PBI had submitted its report following further investigation.
In the case, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) Detective Branch (DB) had submitted a report to the court in 2022, saying that they had not found any evidence in favour of the allegations against Rozina Islam.
However, as the plaintiff appealed against the DB report, the court ordered the PBI to conduct further investigation.
Rozina Islam was subjected to harassment and torture, being confined for six hours in a room of the health ministry while on professional duty on 17 May 2021.
She was later handed over to Shahbagh Police Station and was accused in two cases filed under two sections of the Official Secrets Act of 1923.
After one week of imprisonment, she secured bail and walked out of the prison on 23 May. Since then, she had been appearing at the court at times, to attend the hearing procedure of the case.
Meanwhile, Rozina Islam was honoured with the Free Press Award in 2021, under the ‘Most Resilient Journalist’ category. Later, the United States recognised her fight against corruption in 2023, with the Anti-Corruption Champions Award.