Rejoinder and our reply
An additional chief engineer of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) has protested against two news reports published in The Independent over the assault of a female engineer in his office room by outsiders. The additional chief engineer (marine and mechanical engineering), Nesar Uddin Khan, protested against the news of the assault, which took place in his presence on October 17. In the protest letter, Khan termed the published reports as baseless, motivated, and untrue. He also said that the embezzlement of Tk18 crore, as stated in the report, was baseless.
I was busy with a BUET engineer and didnt pay any attention to the contractors. At that time, the superintendent engineer entered my room to discuss the technical evaluation committee of a tender for the construction of 50 pontoons. At one stage, a heated speech was exchanged between me and Zarina. Suddenly, the outsider Rakib and Zarina got involved in scuffle, Khan said in his protest letter. He also said that he was not the authority to give any work to any company and was not involved in any share of any private company.
Our reply:
Both the reports were published after taking the comments of the higher authorities of the BIWTA. The BIWTA even filed a case with Motijheel Police Station on October 18 over the incident. Earlier, on October 17, a female superintendent engineer of the BIWTA, Zarina Khanom, was physically assaulted in the office of Additional Chief Engineer Nesar Uddin Khan by outsiders.
As such, the reports were also accordingly published with the comments of the victim and Nesar Uddin Khan. Therefore, the published news items were correct and true in their information. The Independent strives to maintain the accuracy of news and the ethics of journalism. Meanwhile, the BIWTA suspended Nesar Uddin Khan and formed a probe committee, headed by BIWTA Director (audit) Siddiqur Rahman, on October 17 to look into the incident. BIWTA Chairman Commodore M Mahbub-ul Islam had confirmed the details on October 17. A BIWTA probe committee report has also found the said official responsible, the chairman has told The Independent.
