HC declines to hear bail plea of accused in attack on journos in Rajshahi

The High Court has declined to hear the bail plea of six accused in the case of the attack on journalists at Barendra Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) office in Rajshahi.

The High Court bench of Justice Md Rezaul Hasan and Justice Md Atabullah returned their application on Wednesday (14 September).

Lawyer Helal Uddin Molla represented the accused in court and Deputy Attorney General Imran Ahmed Bhuiyan appeared for the state.

Imran Ahmed Bhuiyan told reporters, "When the accused appeared in the court to get anticipatory bail by holding a hearing for the bail plea, the court declined to hear it."

On the other hand, Helal Uddin Molla, the lawyer of the petitioners, said, "Out of the seven accused, except accused number one, the rest appeared before the court for bail. But the court returned the appeal without a hearing. Now I will go to another bench with the appeal."

On 5 September around 8:15am, ATN News reporter Bulbul Habib and cameraperson Rubel Islam were attacked during live broadcast on the premises of Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) when they were on duty. Their cameras and microphones were broken.

Office staffers attacked the duo while the two went to the head office of BMDA in Rajshahi to gather news.

At one stage, Executive Director Abdur Rashid entered the office, got down from the car and rushed towards them. He pushed them and asked others to beat the two up, before throwing them out of the BDMA compound.

Later, reporter Bulbul Habib filed a case against 10 unknown and seven named people, including the BMDA executive director Abdur Rashid, with Rajpara police station.

The accused in the case are - BMDA Executive Director Abdur Rashid, 55, warehouse keeper Md Jibon, 42, Executive Director's Office Assistant Salim, 41, executive director's Private Secretary Nurul Islam 45, Ansar member Enamul, 35, Office Assistant Farooq, 40 and driver Abdus Sabur, 42.