Journo gets legal notice for news of plagiarism in research

A legal notice issued against a Dhaka University (DU) reporter along with four others for publishing news of allegedly plagiarism in a research paper.

The legal notice was issued by Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua on behalf of Sadeka Halim and Md. Kawser Ahmed, Dean Faculty of Social Science and Earth and Environmental Sciences of Dhaka University respectively.

They sent the legal notice against Tanveer Hasan, DU Correspondent of the daily Desh Rupantor, Amit Habib, Editor, the daily Desh Rupantor, Mahir Ali Khan Ratul, Publisher, the daily Desh Rupantor, Utpal Das, Reporter of the daily Vorer Pata and Dr. Kazi Erleza Hasan, Editor and Publisher of the daily Vorer Pata. 

Accusing the professors of plagiarizing in a research paper entitled “Participation of Women in Aquaculture in the Three Coastal Districts of Bangladesh: Approaches towards Sustainable Livelihood” daily Desh Rupantor and daily Vorer Pata published two different news. According to these reports the research was examined by the software “Turnitin” and found more than 80 percent of the research copied from different research papers.

Seeking the explanation of these reports the legal notice claimed that the reports were false and fabricated. They published the report without verifying the information. In this situation the reputation and honor of these two professors are damaging.

The notice further claimed that there is no formal allegation of plagiarism against Professor Sadeka Halim by the university authorities. Publishers of news reports have no jurisdiction to question professional integrity. 

Tanveer Hasan said though we did our job properly we got a legal notice. We will deal with it in a legal manner.  

However, some university teachers in the country have demanded proper action against Professor Sadeka Halim for allegedly falsifying his research.

According to Lawyer’s notice the professors sent a rejoinder to the media but it didn’t published the rejoinder in this regard.   

Bangladesh Muktijuddha Mancha also organized a human chain demanding legal action against Professor Halim.