False robbery case against NTV journalist, acquitted after 2.5 yrs

Senior Judicial Magistrate Ujjal Mahmud‍‍`s court has acquitted the main accused journalist and other 15 accused in the case against Mizan Rahman, a senior correspondent of NTV working in Dhaka, on charges of looting money from a neighbor‍‍`s house in a village of Bagmara Upazila of Rajshahi. After two and a half years of harassment, the court acquitted the accused on Tuesday, May 23.

The victim journalist said that after the death of his father in October 2020, the residents of the same village, Md. Omar Ali, former clerk of the Divisional Commissioner‍‍`s Office, former army member Abdul Majeed alias Bablu after failing to occupy homesteads and lands by force made Mizan Rahman the main accused along with his 15 relatives. Saira Banu, wife of Munsur Rahman of Dokhalpara of Jogipara Union of Upazila, filed the false case in the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court of Rajshahi.

In the affidavit, the indicted was accused of forcibly looting Tk 4 lakh 9 thousand from the house of the plaintiff. When the then SI Abdur Rahim of Jogipara Police Investigation Center was given charge of investigating the case, the police filed a false and fabricated charge sheet in the court on February 17, 2021 with the help of the influential circles of the area. Analyzing the charge sheet, it has been found that the sum of money claimed in the statement of the plaintiff has no match with the sum of money given in the preliminary investigation and the testimony of the witness.

After being acquitted from the case, this journalist said that he was on night shift duty at the NTV office in Dhaka, Karwanbazar on Thursday, 24 December 2020, when the incident claimed by the plaintiff took place. Mizan Rahman came to the office on Thursday 24th December 2020 at 11:30 pm and left the office at 8:35 am on Friday, according to the biometric system used to control staff attendance at NTV.

In the statement of the case, the time of the robbery  is mentioned on the same date between one and half past one. The court took the testimony of the news editor working at NTV on that day and time along with the documents of office attendance and the testimony of six witnesses of the plaintiff side. Later, after the arguments, the judgment day was fixed. On the day of judgment, the judge presented the entire trial proceedings and cross-examination of witnesses before all the defendants and plaintiffs.

Later, the accused was interrogated by the judge himself for almost an hour. After reviewing the various documents submitted to the court and the arguments of the lawyers, he acquitted all the accused, citing the case as false and fabricated. The court forgave the plaintiff as a woman even though she was told to send to jail for the crime of filing a false case.