Kolkata:
A mob surrounded senior Bangladesh journalist Munni Saha in Dhaka final night time and accused her of spreading misinformation and “doing every thing to make Bangladesh part of India”. Ms Saha was heckled as she saved saying, “That is additionally my nation”. Finally, a police crew got here and took her into custody.
In response to stories in Bangladesh media, Ms Saha was wished in a case linked to a pupil’s demise throughout the anti-reservation protests within the neighbouring nation that led to its former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ouster. Police stated Ms Saha was rescued from Dhaka’s Kawran Bazar space, the place a mob had surrounded her.
Rezaul Karim Mallik, a senior officer of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, instructed The Each day Star Newspaper, “Individuals handed her over to the police. She suffered a panic assault. We’ve got launched her after contemplating her well being situation and the truth that she is a lady journalist.” Ms Saha has been requested to hunt bail from court docket and adjust to police summons sooner or later.
কারওয়ানবাজার থেকে সাংবাদিক মুন্নী সাহা গ্রেপ্তার |
Munni Saha Arrest | Channel 24 pic.twitter.com/xq7x0HHkzd— Md. Sohel Rana (@mdsohelrana7707) December 1, 2024
In a video that has now gone viral, Ms Saha is seen surrounded by a mob. A voice is heard accusing her of misguiding folks concerning the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles mutiny that claimed 57 lives. “You’re doing every thing you possibly can to make this nation part of India. The blood of scholars is in your arms,” the journalist is instructed as she nods in denial.
“How are you going to be a citizen of this nation and hurt this nation,” she is instructed. Ms Saha responds, “How have I harmed? That is additionally my nation.”
The 55-year-old journalist is the previous information head of Bengali channel ATN Information. After the Sheikh Hasina administration was toppled, she and several other different journalists had been charged with crimes in opposition to humanity.
The heckling of Ms Saha comes amid considerations over the situation of minority Hindus in Bangladesh after the regime change. A Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari was arrested in Dhaka final week after a Hindu group’s protest demanding authorized safety and a ministry for minority affairs. The Hindu priest, who was earlier related to ISKCON, faces a sedition case, allegedly for his remarks on the focusing on of Hindus.
ISKCON has now stated that two extra monks, Adipurush Shyam Das and Ranganath Das Brahmachari, have been arrested after they met Chinmoy Krishna Das. The vice-president of ISKCON Kolkata additionally stated that rioters had vandalised the ISKCON centre in Bangladesh.
Following Hasina’s ouster, an interim authorities helmed by Grameen Financial institution founder and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has taken cost. Over the previous few months, a number of stories of minority Hindus being focused in Bangladesh have emerged.
Within the aftermath of the priest’s arrest, India expressed concern over the rise of “extremist rhetoric, growing incidents of violence and provocation” in Bangladesh.
The Ministry of Exterior Affairs stated that India has constantly raised the difficulty of focused assaults on Hindus and different minorities with the Bangladesh authorities. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal has urged the interim authorities in Bangladesh to take steps to guard minorities.