Assistant Commissioner (Land) of Chandina Upazila in Cumilla Faisal Al Noor has been removed from his post on Thursday following an incident in which he handcuffed two journalists and sent them to a police station.
According to a government notification from the Ministry of Public Administration, Faisal has been withdrawn from his role as AC (Land) and reassigned to the office of the Divisional Commissioner in Sylhet.
The journalists involved were Russel Sarkar, Debidwar correspondent for Daily Manab Zamin, and Abdul Alim, correspondent for Face the People and the local paper Amar Shohor. The incident, which originated from a land registration dispute, drew widespread public attention after images of the journalists in handcuffs circulated on social media, prompting protests from local media organizations.
According to Abdul Alim, the conflict arose over his cousin’s land registration case, which Faisal Al Noor had reportedly delayed for over a year. On 1 April, Abdul Alim and Russel Sarkar went to Chandina for a scheduled hearing.
“Around 1:45 pm, we asked the AC if the hearing would proceed that day,” Alim said. “He became agitated and started mistreating us. When I tried to record the conversation on my phone, he grabbed it. After I resisted, he called the police and handcuffed both of us, taking us to the station.”
Alim added that despite identifying themselves as journalists, they faced further mistreatment at the police station, including deletion of their photos and videos. They were also compelled to sign a statement promising not to pursue the matter further.
