Staff Reporter :
The Bangladesh Police Service Association (BPSA) has issued a statement saying that in recent times, partial, motivated, and indiscriminate reports about former and serving members of the Bangladesh police have been published in print, electronic, and social media.
The organisation has strongly protested against this and urged the media to be more cautious over the issue.
The BPSA came up with the remark in a press release issued on Friday, urging proper devotion to journalistic ethics from the media while publishing any report about the police force.
In recent times, plentiful reports have been published by the media regarding the wealth of former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed and his family and former Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia and his family.
Meanwhile, Benazir and his family members left the country on May 4 this year after the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) started investigating his properties.
The BPSA organised a meeting on Thursday in the police headquarters auditorium from this perspective. Some of the officials demanded in the meeting that they take legal action against those involved in publishing partial, biased, and fake news reports.
The BPSA notification came a day after this meeting. The BPSA notification said some media outlets are publishing derogatory news against some police officers for personal gains and to protect their own interests, which is against the principles of journalism.
In this context, the notification says that it is not unreasonable to raise questions for what reason, to serve whose objectives, and to implement whose mandates. Some media are indulging in such slander against the police force.
It has also been mentioned that the police have always followed the policy of “zero tolerance” against corruption.
It is also said that no exemption is given to any police personnel if the corruption charges against them are proven. Such personnel not only face departmental action but also legal action.
The BPSA release also said that the media is the mirror of society. Constructive criticism from the media is always welcome. But the BPSA wants to protest against the publication of any partial or fake news.
It also mentioned that the media has a responsibility to the reader to publish impartial news.
The BPSA release said, “For some mysterious reason, a section of the media has very cleverly tried to frame the police controversially, which can be considered bad journalism, which in turn suppresses the voice of honest journalism.”
It is said that such misreporting appears to be an attempt to demoralise the honest, dedicated, professional, and patriotic members of the police force.
Such things may adversely affect their ability to discharge their duties honestly, as the notification pointed out.
Such misinformation should be considered whether it encourages terrorists and is a ploy of an anti-national conspiracy, the BPSA says.
The notification also stated that anti-freedom and anti-nationalist gangs and their fugitive cyber-terrorists abroad are constantly publishing false and overstated information on social media to defame the characters of officers of the police force.
As a replication of those propagandas, recently some media have been purposefully publishing defamatory and negative news about incumbent and former members of the police, which appears to be a wicked intention to tarnish the image of the police force, the release said.