A general diary (GD) has been filed with Dhaka's Tejgaon Police Station over alleged threats to the editor and staff of two education-focused newspapers following reports on a dispute involving teacher registration certificate holders.
Bulbul Ahmed, executive editor of Dainik Shiksha and Dainik Amader Barta, filed the complaint on Friday. He alleged that a group of people had threatened the newspapers and their journalists over their reporting on teacher recruitment.
Tejgaon Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Moniruzzaman confirmed to Daily Waadaa that police had started investigating the allegations.
"The investigation has started. Further details will be known once it is completed," he said.
The dispute involves people who passed the first 12 teacher registration examinations but have yet to secure teaching jobs. They have been pressing the government to appoint them to private educational institutions based on their earlier qualifications.
The Non-Government Teachers' Registration and Certification Authority (NTRCA) conducts examinations to certify candidates for teaching positions at private schools, colleges and madrasahs.
Dainik Shiksha and Dainik Amader Barta published reports questioning the legal basis of the jobseekers' demands and examining court proceedings over their eligibility for recruitment.
The publications reported that the Supreme Court's Appellate Division ruled in favour of the government on July 5 in a case concerning the demands of these certificate holders.
According to the complaint, the reports angered some of the jobseekers, who subsequently began targeting the publications and their journalists.
Dainik Shiksha alleged that some certificate holders threatened to attack the newspapers' offices and sent abusive messages to editor Siddiqur Rahman Khan through Facebook and other social media platforms.
The publication also reported that Khan received threats of physical assault and injury through Facebook Messenger.
Several teachers' organisations condemned the alleged threats, including the Bangladesh Primary Teachers' Organisations Unity Council, the Bangladesh Primary Teachers' Association and the Private Educational Institution Heads Recruitment Aspirants' Forum.
Ahmed urged police to investigate the allegations and take appropriate legal action.