A young house staff working at the same hospital reached his workplace around 3 pm that afternoon after being informed by his friends about the horrific crime. Like other students and doctors in Kolkata, he actively joined the protests at R G Kar, demanding justice for the victim and increased security measures on the campus.

However, today, Dr Arshean Alam is scared to leave his home. What happened between then and now is a social media trial in which his name was floated as one of the accused in the case. Some posts directly claimed he was one of the ‘real culprits’ or ‘murderers’.

Social Media Trial of Arshean Alam

As calls for swift action in the case grew louder, Kolkata Police arrested a civic volunteer named Sanjay Roy based on circumstantial evidence and CCTV footage. According to the latest reports, DNA reports, too, have confirmed his involvement. Forensic experts collected skin samples from the victim’s fingernails and found injuries on Sanjay’s body. On August 13, the Calcutta High Court handed over the case to the CBI, which currently has Sanjay in its custody.

At the same time, several theories have surfaced in public discourse and on social media vis-a-vis the circumstances of the postgraduate trainee’s death. Some people have opined that Sanjay Roy was being made a scapegoat to protect someone. It is also being claimed that the commission of the crime involved more than one person. In this connection, some specific names of doctors from the hospital have surfaced as the accused in the case.

Arshean Alam is one of the names. His name, along with that of another Muslim house staff, is particularly viral across social media platforms.

Right Wing X user Hindutva Knight (@HPhobiaWatch) tweeted the images of Arshean and the other Muslim R G Kar house staff and claimed that the Bengal government was trying to shelter the two. The tweet has received more than 10 Lakh views and has been retweeted over 7,000 times.

Reminder that Bengal Govt is saving these 2 accused. pic.twitter.com/CvsM9WoNsX

— Hindutva Knight (@HPhobiaWatch) August 15, 2024

The Kolkata Police served a notice on the user on grounds of peddling misinformation. In response, the user again tweeted that they would not be deleting their tweet since they felt that the Kolkata Police’s intentions were not right and that the police were trying to save “a few high profile accused.”

Media outlets ABP Live and News 18 mentioned Arshean’s name in their reports.

The claim was also amplified by Right-wing columnist Madhu Kishwar. She tweeted a list which includes Arshean’s name. She claimed that all of the people named were absconding. It is worth noting that most of the names on the list are Muslims and Kishwar claims that the “names explain” why there is a “determined attempt to shield them” and hang Sanjoy Roy who she claims was “tricked into raping her dead body”.

It is being ALLEGED that these five Geniuses could be the ones guilty of barbaric rape &murder of M in the #RGKarCollege .
They are reportedly absconding since August 9.
The names may explain why there is such a determined attempt to shield them and hang just ONE man who was… https://t.co/QKRKRU52Gc pic.twitter.com/bb1KZXH2xt

— Madhu Purnima Kishwar (@madhukishwar) August 19, 2024

Twitter user @MrNationalistJJ tweeted pictures of social media profiles of three names, one of which is Arshean’s. This user claims that these three, whom he identifies as ‘the culprits’, had left the country. (Archive)

These three culprits have already left the country and they are the sons of TMC ministers of West Bengal, who had done this heinous crime.#KolkataDoctor #JusticeForMoumita pic.twitter.com/hbq9YJms0d

— Mr. Nationalist (@MrNationalistJJ) August 17, 2024

Arshean’s name was circulated with the same claim by various other social media users. On Facebook, a post mentioning his name as a suspect was published on a group page named West Bengal Doctors Forum. (Archives- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Facebook has since been flooded with these claims. Below is a 1-minute screen recording of some posts on Facebook making the same allegation. However, these posts represent only the tip of the iceberg.

Alt News Investigation

Arshean Alam belongs to the batch of 2018 at the government-run R G Kar medical college. He completed his MBBS in 2023 and then did a mandatory one-year internship. After his convocation on May 3, 2024, he joined as a house staff at the trauma care unit of R G Kar Hospital. Alt News could independently establish that Arshean was at home and not at the hospital on the night of the alleged crime.

The autopsy of the slain doctor put the time of death between 3 and 5 am. Sanjay Roy, the prime accused, was seen entering the seminar hall on the third floor in the emergency building of the hospital around 4 am. During our investigation into Arshean’s whereabouts on that night, we reviewed CCTV footage from a shop next to his house, covering the hours between 1 am and 5 am. In the viewing of the footage, we found Arshean entering his home at 1.16 am, which is well before the time of the commission of the crime. We observed no movement from Arshean till 5 am, which confirms that he was at home when the crime was committed.

We visited his house and confirmed that there was no second exit through which one could get in or out. Other than the main entry/exit, we found another exit which was closed with an iron shutter, and locals told us that the shutter had been dysfunctional for at least one year. On the outside, we found pieces of rag hanging from a rope tied to it, further suggesting that the exit is not in use.

Alt News also spoke to joint commissioner (crime) of Kolkata Police Murlidhar Sharma who had been directly involved in the investigation before CBI took over. He told us that according to their findings, Arshean was not involved in the case in any way.

All of this proves with certainty that the suggestion on social media that Arshean Alam was directly involved in the commissioning of the crime at Kolkata’s R G Kar hospital is false. And he is not absconding.

Alt News spoke at length to Arshean. He said, “I am in a state of mental distress. I was at home, yet I am being implicated in this case. This has been incredibly difficult for me and my family. My reputation in society is being tarnished, and this amounts to defamation. A hate campaign is being spread by various social media accounts, and I fear for my safety and that of my family.”

He also informed us that he had filed an FIR against social media users who actively amplified baseless claims against him. Alt News saw a copy of the FIR. According to his complaint, the users posted several messages along with his photographs with the intent to promote enmity on communal grounds. It was further alleged that the messages contained false and fabricated accusations intended to implicate him in criminal cases and malign his reputation. The FIR has been filed under Sections 356, 351, 192, 196, and 61(2) of the BNS Act. Arshean has also mailed social media platforms regarding this.

We also spoke to a close friend and batchmate of Arshean. He told us, “We’re all upset about what’s happening to him. I know he couldn’t have done it because he was at home. Now his entire career is at stake. People have started abusing us for our association with Arshean, and our pictures with him online are flooded with abusive remarks. Our entire circle has been kicked out of the batch’s WhatsApp group because of this social media trial.”

At the time of the writing of this article, the claim is also viral on Instagram and WhatsApp. On Instagram, templates carrying his name have been shared extensively.

The post Arshean Alam social media trial: Alt News probe finds he was at home at the time of the R G Kar rape-murder appeared first on Alt News.

This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Shinjinee Majumder.

The complaint, which CPJ reviewed, was filed by Md Shahinur Islam, who identified himself to The Daily Star as a reporter for the newspaper Amar Somoy, which supports the ruling Awami League party. It accused the journalists and other unnamed members of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party and Bangladesh Nationalist Party of working together to commit “anti-state crimes” and disseminate “conspiratorial news” in a July 27, 2023, Dainik Fulki article.

That article, titled “Asia’s longest-serving prime minister is finally resigning,” covered the resignation announcement of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen but mistakenly used a photo of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, president of the Awami League. The next day, the newspaper published a correction and apology, which CPJ reviewed.

Haque left Dainik Fulki around 2019 and was not involved in the article, the journalist told CPJ.

Sakib said he believed he was being targeted to undermine his campaign in the election for Savar Press Club president, which is set to be held in the coming months. He is opposed by about five journalists who strongly support the Awami League, he said.

Similarly, Haque said he believed he was being targeted for his campaign to be the press club’s organizing secretary. He is opposed by two journalists who strongly support the ruling party, he told CPJ.

The Savar Press Club is a trade group in the Dhaka district that advocates for issues, including wage distribution, labor rights, and journalist safety.

Sakib and Haque said they do not know Islam. Islam told CPJ via messaging app that his complaint was “accurate” and claimed the two journalists were involved in “information terrorism.” Islam did not respond to CPJ’s follow-up question about his journalistic background. CPJ called, messaged, and emailed the Amar Somoy newspaper for comment, but did not receive any replies.

Separately, on July 30, Sakib received a notice from the Dhaka district deputy commissioner’s office, reviewed by CPJ, ordering the journalist to explain within seven days why Dainik Fulki’s license to operate should not be canceled following an application filed by Manjurul Alam Rajib, chair of a local government unit and an Awami League leader in Savar. The notice alleges that the July 27 article “achieved the task of tarnishing the image of the state.”

Sakib’s response, dated August 6 and reviewed by CPJ, denied that allegation, expressed regret over the “unintentional mistake,” and mentioned the published correction and apology. Haque told CPJ that he did not receive a similar notice at that time.

Bangladesh’s next national election is set for January 2024 and expected to be met with increasing violence. In late July 2023, police fired at opposition party protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons, and beat them amid mass arrests of Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders and activists.

In response to the government’s announcement on August 7 that the Digital Security Act will be replaced, CPJ called on authorities to ensure the new Cyber Security Act complies with international human rights law.

Hasan Mahmud, Bangladesh’s information minister and Awami League joint secretary, and Dipak Chandra Saha, officer-in-charge of the Savar Model Police Station, did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment sent via messaging app. CPJ also contacted Rajib and Anisur Rahman, Dhaka district deputy commissioner, via messaging app for comment, but did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

At around 10 p.m. on Wednesday, June 14, a group of men ambushed Nadim, a correspondent for privately owned website Banglanews24 and broadcaster Ekattor TV, while he was traveling home on his motorcycle in the Bakshiganj area in the Jamalpur district of northern Mymensingh division, according to news reports, security footage of the incident published by Ekattor TV, and a witness account by Al Mujaheed, a journalist present at the scene.

A group of 15 to 20 men dragged Nadim to a dark alley, where they severely beat him and left him unconscious before he was taken to the hospital by bystanders. The journalist died the next day from excessive blood loss caused by a severe head injury.

Nadim’s family believes he was targeted in retaliation for his May 2023 series of reports for Banglanews24 about Mahmudul Alam Babu, chair of a local government unit and member of the ruling Awami League party, according to those reports. Babu denied any involvement in the attack.

Sohel Rana, officer-in-charge of the Bakshiganj police station, said six people had been arrested in connection with the attack, Prothom Alo reported Friday.

“We condemn the killing of Bangladeshi journalist Golam Rabbani Nadim in apparent retaliation for his reporting on a local politician,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Bangladesh authorities must ensure that all those involved in this attack are brought to justice and end the country’s appalling record of impunity pertaining to violence against journalists.”

Al Mujaheed said in his witness account that Babu was at the scene and directing the attackers from a distance. CPJ’s calls to Babu, who was reported to be in hiding as of Friday evening, did not connect. CPJ’s text message to Babu did not immediately receive a response.

Nadim’s May articles concerned issues in Babu’s marriage, including a press conference by a woman who alleged the politician secretly married her, then abused and divorced her. Nadim also posted about the allegations on Facebook.

In mid-May, Babu filed a complaint against Nadim under the Digital Security Act for that reporting. Hours before the attack, Nadim posted on Facebook that a court had dismissed the case.

The Rapid Action Battalion, a paramilitary unit of the Bangladesh police, has joined the probe into Nadim’s death. CPJ’s calls and messages to Rana and Khandaker Al Moyeen, director of the legal and media wing of the Rapid Action Battalion, did not immediately receive a reply.

Local press groups, the Bangladeshi Journalists in International Media and the Bakshiganj Press Club, both condemned the killing, saying Nadim, who was also vice president of the Jamalpur District Online Journalists Association, was targeted due to his reporting.

Al Mujaheed told CPJ via messaging app, and Raju, Nadim’s brother-in-law, told CPJ by phone separately that they were unable to immediately comment.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

At around 11 a.m. on Monday, January 23, plainclothes police officers detained Kha, a correspondent for the privately owned broadcaster Deepto TV and privately owned newspaper Dainik Projonmo Ekattor, according to multiple news reports and Supriya Rani Kha, the journalist’s wife, who spoke with CPJ by phone. Kha was detained after reporting on a land dispute in the Khalishakhali area of the southwestern Satkhira district.

Police arrested Kha and two others, alleging they were involved in an attempted bomb blast in coordination with landless people in the area, and authorities initially denied that Kha was in custody, according to those sources.

When the journalist appeared in court the following day, he was unable to stand properly and told his wife that police severely beat him, electrocuted him, and threatened to kill him if he continued reporting on landless people, Supriya Rani Kha told CPJ.

During that hearing, the court ordered Kha to be held in the Satkhira jail while his case is investigated. Supriya Rani Kha said that police have not provided copies of the first information reports in Kha’s case, which would show the specific allegations against him.

“Bangladeshi authorities’ arrest and alleged maltreatment of journalist Raghunath Kha constitute only the latest attack on press freedom in the country, where law enforcement continues to retaliate against journalists with raging impunity,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Kha, drop all cases against him, and conduct a swift investigation into claims that police physically abused him.”

Authorities did not produce Kha in court until about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, his wife said, in apparent violation of Bangladesh’s code of criminal procedure, which provides that police must present an arrested person before a magistrate within 24 hours.

Supriya Rani Kha told CPJ that she believes authorities targeted her husband in retaliation for his reporting highlighting the struggles of landless people in their conflict with land grabbers allegedly supported by police.

In recent months, Satkhira Police Superintendent Kazi Moniruzzaman repeatedly threatened Kha with arrest and legal retaliation in retaliation for his reporting, his wife said, adding that the journalist submitted a written complaint sometime about those threats to Moinul Haque, the deputy inspector-general of the Khulna division police, which oversees the Satkhira branch of the force.

No action was taken against Moniruzzaman, Supriya Rani Kha told CPJ. CPJ emailed Moniruzzaman and Haque and sent them requests for comment via messaging app, but did not receive any replies.

CPJ has previously documented similar allegations of alleged police abuse of detained journalists in Bangladesh. Journalist Shahidul Alam, who was awarded CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award in 2020, told CPJ that police officers beat him in custody. Cartoonist Kabir Kishore told CPJ that authorities beat him and electrocuted his colleague Mushtaq Ahmed, who died in jail.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On September 13, officers with the detective branch of the Bangladesh police, in the Noakhali town of the southeast Chittagong division, arrested Nur Alam Chowdhury Pervez, brother of Shamsul Alam Liton, editor of the privately owned United Kingdom-based Weekly Surma newspaper, according to news reports, a report by The Weekly Surma, a Twitter thread by Bangladeshi editor Tasneem Khalil, and a person familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ by phone on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal.

The September 13 police first information report, a document that opens an investigation, accuses the U.K.-based Liton of spreading anti-government propaganda on social media platforms and alleges that Pervez conspires with Liton to create “confusion and agitation” among the public.

Separately, on September 9, police in Moulvibazar town in the northeast Sylhet division arrested Abdul Muktadir Manu, brother of Abdur Rab Bhuttow, a special correspondent for The Weekly Surma and head of the privately owned digital news platform London Bangla Channel, according to news reports and a person familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ by phone on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal.

“The Bangladesh government’s targeting of family members of critical journalists is an egregious form of retaliation that must not go unnoticed by its diplomatic partners and the international community,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Frankfurt, Germany. “Authorities must swiftly and unconditionally release Nur Alam Chowdhury Pervez and Abdul Muktadir Manu and cease subjecting family members of foreign-based journalists to detention, harassment, and other forms of reprisal.”

The September 10 police first information report alleges that Manu is conspiring with the U.K.-based Bhuttow to remove Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from power and “destroy the image of the state.”

Both police reports cited a section of the Bangladesh Code of Criminal Procedure that allows authorities to conduct warrantless arrests if there is “reasonable suspicion” that an individual may commit an offense.

The arrests came days before the prime minister left on official visits to the U.K. and the United States.

The person familiar with Pervez’ case told CPJ that he is also the brother of Hasina Akhter, host of the U.K.-based political affairs talk show Table Talk with Hasina Akhter, and Shah Alam Faruq, editor of the U.K.-based, privately owned digital news platform Shoja Kotha. On August 14, Liton published an editorial for The Weekly Surma calling on Hasina to hold government officials accountable for alleged money laundering.

CPJ’s source said they believed Pervez’ arrest was either retaliation for his sibling’s critical journalism or because of Liton’s organization of a protest in front of the British parliament in support of Bangladeshi victims of enforced disappearances on August 30. Pervez is the Noakhali district president of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, a socialist party associated with Hasina’s ruling Awami League party.

Separately, the person familiar with Manu’s case told CPJ that they believed his arrest was in retaliation for Bhuttow’s critical journalistic work, most notably two interviews he published on the London Bangla Channel in August 2022 with retired lieutenant colonel Hasinur Rahman, who received international attention for his allegation that Bangladesh’s military intelligence secretly detained him on two separate occasions in 2011 and 2018.

That person told CPJ that Bhuttow received several anonymous threatening calls and messages following the publication of these interviews, warning him to stop his critical journalistic work.

Manu is a government servant with a local administrative unit associated with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, according to news reports and the person familiar with the case, who added that Moulvibazar jail authorities have denied Manu access to his family since his arrest.

The Bangladesh police, the Awami League, and the prime minister’s office did not respond to CPJ’s emailed requests for comment.

Previously, Bangladesh authorities detained Nusrat Shahrin Raka, sister of the U.S.-based Bangladeshi journalist Kanak Sarwar, from October 2021 to March 2022, and have repeatedly harassed the mother of Khalil, who is based in Sweden as the editor-in-chief of the Netra News website.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.