The High Court has said 'no one but a wrongheaded person can talk like this' after reports of Teknaf Upazila Nirbahi Officer verbally abusing a journalist were brought to its attention.
The bench of Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder and Khizir Hayat made the observation on Sunday after senior lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan brought its attention to a media report on the UNO’s act and his apology that came later.
“It is sad and unacceptable to harass a journalist in such a language,” said the bench.
The court observed as the UNO has apologized he has accepted that his comment was not acceptable.
The court also asked Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin to inform it about the steps taken in this regard.
DAG Amin Uddin told UNB, “ Teknaf UNO Mohammad Kaysar had verbally abused a Dhaka Post journalist Saidul Farhad after he published a news titled, “House of PM’s gift floating as built on lowlands’. “
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“The Deputy Commissioner of Cox’s Bazar has assured departmental action will be taken against the UNO after the allegation gets proved. It will be informed to the court,” added DAG Amin Uddin.
Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said, “One of the justices said that the UNO has talked like a goon. A responsible government officer should not talk like this. The senior justice of the bench has called him wrongheaded.”
On Thursday around 10 pm the accused UNO called journalist Saidul Farhad over the phone and harassed him verbally questioning why he wrote a report against the PM's gift houses.
As an audio record of the call went viral on social media it sparked huge criticism. Later on Friday Cox’s Bazar DC held a meeting with the journalist and UNO to resolve the issue.