Two journalists were physically assaulted, unlawfully detained, and stripped of their broadcasting equipment after attempting to document systematic cheating during an examination at Kazipur Degree College in Gangni Upazila, Meherpur. The violent encounter took place on Friday, 28 August, during a degree-level assessment administered under the Bangladesh Open University (BOU).
The targeted reporters were identified as Rabbi Ahmed, district correspondent for Bangladesh Betar and Nagorik Television, and Tareq Hossain, district correspondent for the daily newspaper Khabarer Kagoj. Both journalists acted on specific intelligence indicating that college staff were allowing candidates to consult textbooks during the test in exchange for an illicit fee of 500 taka per student.
Upon arriving at the examination venue to verify the claims, the correspondents discovered multiple examinees actively copying answers directly from open textbooks placed on their desks. When the reporters began filming the malpractice on their mobile phones, a group of invigilators led by lecturer Moniruzzaman Biplob confronted them with immediate hostility. The confrontation quickly turned violent as the teachers assaulted the news crew, seized two mobile phones alongside a Nagorik Television boom microphone, and forcibly confined both men inside a room on the college premises.
Rabbi Ahmed and Tareq Hossain managed to escape from the room shortly after their detention. They received medical treatment for their injuries at the Gangni Upazila Health Complex before filing a formal written complaint at the local police station. Tareq Hossain stated that the faculty members reacted with extreme aggression the moment they realised their illicit scheme was being recorded, using physical force to destroy evidence of the malpractice.
The violent suppression of press coverage has ignited widespread fury among media professionals across Meherpur. Local press associations gathered to denounce the assault, urging law enforcement to arrest the accused teachers without delay and demanding that educational authorities revoke the college’s status as an examination centre.
Distance-learning degrees offered by BOU provide flexible higher education opportunities for working adults across Bangladesh, making strict invigilation essential for preserving qualification standards. Incidents of cash-for-cheating schemes involving venue invigilators pose a direct threat to the credibility of public higher education certificates.
Officer-in-Charge of Gangni Police Station, Muhaddid Morshed Chowdhury, confirmed receipt of the official complaint, stating that the police have assigned top priority to the case. Investigators have launched an inquiry to apprehend the perpetrators, retrieve the stolen media equipment, and bring formal criminal charges against those involved.
