Khulna journo held under DSA now on 3-day remand

Sayeed Muhammad of DOT
A Khulna court has placed a journalist on a three-day remand in a case filed under the controversial Digital Security Act. Judge of Khulna Judicial Magistrate Court-3 Nayan Biswas passed the order after police produced Md Hedayet Hossain Mollah before the court with a seven-day remand prayer.
Hedayet is the local correspondent of Bangla Tribune and Dhaka Tribune, reports The Daily Star.
He was arrested on Tuesday noon in the case on charge of publishing “false” information on the number of votes cast in a constituency during Sunday’s 11th national election.
He is also the treasurer of the newly-formed committee of Khulna Press Club and took his charge on Tuesday.
According to the initial announcement of the election results, the number of votes cast in Khulna-1 constituency was higher than the total number of voters there.
As the matter was brought to the returning officer’s attention, he said it was a mistake and later came up with a correction, said local journalists.
By the time the correction could be made, the two media outlets ran reports saying the number of votes cast was around 22,000 higher than the actual number of voters.
Documents provided by the returning officer’s office showed 45,000 of the 2,59,420 voters did not cast their ballots.
Batiaghata Upazila Nirbahi Officer Debashish Chowdhury, also the assistant returning officer, filed the case against two journalists including Md Hedayet.
The case statement said the accused published false, fabricated and provocative information on the voting with the use of electronic devices, including laptops, which might confuse people and create a chaotic situation.
Such activities made the “fair election” questionable, the statement said.