Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud has said that legal action is being taken against the persons who are spreading anti-state rumours at home and abroad.
He made the comment while talking to reporters following a meeting with Rumour Resisting Cell and Fact Checking Committee at the conference room of the Press Information Department (PID) in Bangladesh Secretariat on Tuesday (November 21, 2023).
Principal Information Officer (PIO) Shahenur Mia, senior deputy PIO Abdul Jalil, deputy PIO Nasrin Jahan Lipi and information officer Gazi Sarfia Yesmin were present in the meeting, among others.
Dr Hasan Mahmud, who is also joint general secretary of ruling Awami League, said that it is very regretful that a political party is patronizing those who spreading rumours. The government has identified many of them and it was notified to concerned authorities of foreign countries, he added.
He further said that leaders and activists of ruling Awami League, who are residing abroad, have been asked to take legal actions against the persons who spread rumours in those foreign countries. The government has also made the request to the authorities of the countries concerned.
The minister said that the government is aware of the rumours which are being spread from abroad and those have been reduced than earlier.
He commented that BNP-Jamaat didn’t pay properly to their paid agents to spread rumours and some audios were viral centering the issues. Besides, some expatriates filed case against them in different countries, he said.
Dr Hasan Mahmud called upon the journalists of mainstream mass media to vocal against anti-state rumours, saying that they will try to spread rumours centering the upcoming elections too. They also spread rumours against COVID-19 vaccine and during the construction of Padma Bridge, he said.
In the meeting, the minister praised the activities of the committee of PID and gave advices to increase quality of their works.
It was informed that under the programme, 73 press releases, 37 icon text and four videos were released at fact checking service box of PID website, in facebook page, pidbd and YouTube channel of PID.
