Published on 24 sep 2025 :
Journalists have surrounded the Rangpur Metropolitan Police Commissioner's office and protested, demanding the arrest of those involved in the kidnapping and beating of senior journalist Liaquat Ali Badal of Rangpur for publishing news. At the same time, they have also demanded action against the officials and employees of Rangpur City Corporation (RCC) for harassing the media workers who went to protest.
At that time, the journalist leaders gave an ultimatum to arrest the accused within 72 hours. They surrounded the Rangpur Metropolitan Police Commissioner's office at around 12 noon today (September 24). Later, after the protest at around 1:30 pm, a memorandum was submitted to the Police Commissioner.
During the protest, journalist leaders alleged that journalist Badal was attacked for reporting on corruption worth Tk 5 crore in the Rangpur City Corporation's auto-rickshaw license-trade. After the report was published, the distribution of licenses was stopped. Angered by this, a group picked up Badal at gunpoint from in front of the city's Kachari Court Mosque on Sunday (September 22) and beat him up. They also attempted to kill him and locked him in the city corporation's chief executive's office and pressured him to apologize. 20-25 people led by a young man named Rocky, who identified himself as 'July Warrior', took part in the attack.
Journalist Badal filed a case with Rangpur Metropolitan Kotwali Police Station on Sunday night, naming 14 people and accusing 20-25 unknown people.
Police conducted a raid and arrested the fifth accused in the case, Ratan Mia, from Shapla Chattar at around 9:30 pm on Monday. Then, the sixth accused, Rakibul Hasan Sagar, was arrested on Tuesday.
Journalist Liaqat Ali Badal alleged that the police are not arresting the main culprits. He said, "If the journalists had not rescued me after receiving the news, I might have been taken somewhere else and killed. The accused are roaming around openly. The police have only arrested the fifth and sixth accused. I want everyone involved in the incident to be arrested and brought to justice."
Liaquat Ali Badal further said, "I have seen a doctor and had a CT scan and MRI done. The report says there is a blood clot in my brain. They hit me on the head with a hammer and a stick. I can't stand now."
Journalist leaders said that the attackers are trying to file false cases against journalists by going to the police station. The accused in the complaint are roaming around the city corporation openly, going live on Facebook and participating in human chains, insulting and threatening journalists. This is deeply worrying and insecure for the journalist community.
Rangpur Journalists Union (RPUJ) President Salekuzzaman Salek said, “We have submitted a memorandum by observing a peaceful sit-in program. We want to see visible progress in the next three days. If the main accused are not arrested, then we will announce a continuous program.”
Rangpur City Press Club President Swapan Chowdhury said, “Even after three days of the incident, the accused have not been arrested. If the safety of journalists is ensured and the culprits are not arrested, we will continue the movement. This movement will spread across the country.”
Rangpur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md. Majid Ali said, “Liaquat Ali Badal is a fearless and courageous journalist from North Bengal. He had made a report on September 17. He was taken away in a terrorist manner. The authorities of the office against which the report was made should have questioned him. But what has been done is very shameful.”
The Police Commissioner further said, "If a journalist is a victim of terrorist activities for reporting news, how will the public get the news? A criminal case has been filed in this incident. We have arrested two of them. No matter who else is involved, no one will be spared. The culprits will be brought to justice in a very short time."
Regarding the autorickshaw license corruption, the Police Commissioner said, "Where there is a capacity of 5,000 autorickshaws, 50,000 autorickshaws operate. The news that Liaquat Ali Badal has made, he has spoken about me. If there was any financial transaction behind this, then the office authorities should have investigated after publishing the news. Then the incident would not have come to this extent."
Leaders of Rangpur Journalists Union (RPUJ), Rangpur Press Club, Rangpur Reporters Club, City Press Club, Rangpur Reporters Unity, Bangladesh Photo Journalists Association Rangpur, Television Camera Journalists Association Rangpur, Rangpur Online Journalists Association and local media workers participated in this program under the banner of Rangpur Sammilit Journalists Samaj.
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