Mahfuz Anam

A journalist, Shafiqul Islam Kajol, disappears on March 10 following the filing of a case under Digital Security Act (DSA) by Saifuzzaman Shikhor. Video footage shows evidence of some people surrounding his motorbike as he is about to leave his office in Hatirpool in the evening. Two police stations – Chawk Bazar where he lives and New Market where his office is – refuse the family’s plea to file a case of disappearance. On instructions from high-ups, Chawk Bazar Police Station finally accepts it. He stays untraced for 53 days during which police do nothing except saying that they are looking into the case. A citizen of the country, a journalist, a family man, a father, a husband, a taxpayer - nothing moved the police to investigate what became of him.

Then much to our relief and elation of the family, through a sudden early morning phone call, at 2:48am on Sunday, May 3, courtesy the Benapole Police station, Kajol told his son, Monorom Polok, that he is alive and that Polok should come to Benapole to bring him home.

Kajol was “discovered” by a BGB patrol very near the India-Bangladesh border who, after initial questioning, handed him over to the police. The Benapole police identified him, contacted his family and charged him with illegally entering Bangladesh under the Passport Act, a crime punishable by a Tk 500 fine or three months in jail.