Journalists must not be harassed in police probe of secret info leak
The police is yet to claim that the report was fake. Rather, the accused was transferred from the DMP to the office of the IGP. It is rarely seen that the force suspends or sends any of its accused member on leave without payment to investigate the allegations of crime or breaching laws brought against them
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed remarked that the police services to the people amid novel coronavirus has drawn applauds and support huge (Dainik Ittefaq, 15 June 2020). There is some truth in his remark, no doubt. At the same time, this also has to be said that the IGP, through his statement, has indirectly acknowledged that the force had been lacking in this respect.
In this pandemic, we don’t want to go into that ‘unpleasant’ discussion about the reasons of that lacking right now. Rather, we pay respect to the members of the force who got infected with COVID-19 while carrying out their duties and those who died of it, and hope for the speedy recovery of the infected policemen who are under treatment. But it is not possible to remain silent, even amid this critical time, about the police action that is akin to harassment or suppression and steps that are not legal. One such step, what could be called harassment or coercion, is to summon journalists to ask about the sources of any report.
Recently, various newspapers and television channels ran a story about a letter the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner Mohammad Shafiqul Islam sent to the IGP saying that DMP’s erstwhile joint commissioner Imam Hossain gave him an unethical proposal for bribes. The story on the 30 May letter was published in media on 5 June. No doubt, such a story on an unethical and criminal act of a police high official is damaging for the image of the force. That is why, finding out how journalists came to know about the matter has become more important to the police high officials than the trial of the crime. Just like ‘shooting the messenger,’ they have been looking for the person divulged the information to journalists. A police investigation team has summoned the journalists who published the report. At least six journalists were sent letters to appear before the committee lead by DMP’s joint commissioner (crime) at its headquarters on Wednesday and Thursday. One of the journalists has already been quizzed.
The police have not, as yet, claimed that the report was fake. Rather, the accused was transferred from the DMP to the office of the IGP. It is rare that the force suspends or sends any of its accused member on leave without pay, while investigating the charges brought against them. The high officials like to transfer them to other offices or withdraw them. And, they do not want other agencies to investigate into the allegation. But, in most democracies, the police complaints commission or standards authority, an agency outside the force, investigates such incidents.
The letter sent to the journalists asked them to appear before the committee on time “for objective investigations” on “information of a secret letter.” We have no problem with the police investigating how its secret was leaked, but summoning journalists for the investigation and questioning them is nothing but flexing power beyond their jurisdiction. Firstly, such allegation of corruption at such a high level of the police is very important in the people’s interest, hence the justification of publishing such a report is beyond question. In this case, the journalists have not committed any crime other than doing their job with sincerity. That is why summoning them for quizzing is nothing but coercion and harassment.
Secondly, as per the existing laws, there is no scope to ask a journalist for his or her sources. Maintaining secrecy of the sources is recognised as a fundamental responsibility of a journalist. As per the Bangladeshi laws, the Press Council is the authority for supervising the ethical issues or taking legal actions against journalists. Even the Press Council does not have the right to ask about sources, says the Press Council Act-1974. Section 13 of that act is about investigation and trial of a journalist for breaching the principles of journalism. Subsection 13 (2) of the act says no journalist, editor, newspaper and news agency could be compelled to disclose the source of a published report. Subsection 13 (3) says every inquiry held by the council shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding. What is forbidden in the judicial proceeding cannot be legal for any other agency of the country.
We hope DMP will revoke the letter it sent to journalists asking them to appear in the investigation. On Monday, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced 30 journalists, who face torture, as information-heroes for their role amid coronavirus. Two of them are Bangladeshis. One is cartoonist Kishore, who has been detained under the Digital Security Act, and the other is Selim Akash, who has been detained in Jordan for reporting on the lives of expatriates amid lockdown due to the pandemic.
Protest is on at home and abroad for journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol, who has been shown arrested under Digital Security Act after remaining missing for two months. Some more journalists in different districts of the country have been arrested in on defamation charges. Out of 180 countries, Bangladesh currently ranks 151 in the global index on media freedom and the lowest in South Asia. We hope, amid the pandemic, police would not lead Bangladesh to be the top country in suppressing journalists.
* Kamal Ahmed is a journalist. This op-ed, has been rewritten in English by Shameem Reza