A Dhaka court today rejected a petition by Prothom Alo's senior journalist Rozina Islam seeking the return of her passport.
The journalist is on bail in a case filed under the Official Secrets Act over allegations of stealing and capturing photos of "highly sensitive" government documents.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Dhaka's Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Muhammad Asaduzzaman Nur passed the order after her lawyer submitted the application, court sources said.
The passport was submitted to the court while completing the bail bond.
As further investigation into the case is underway, it will not be right to return her passport before completing it, said Nizam Uddin Fakir, general recording officer at the CMM Court, quoting the magistrate.
Meanwhile, the magistrate today again ordered the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to submit its investigation report against Rozina Islam by June 25.
The order came after PBI failed to submit any probe report.
During today's hearing, Rozina was present at the court.
On January 23, Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Tofazzal Hossain ordered further investigation after complainant Shibbir Ahmed, deputy secretary of the health ministry, submitted a no-confidence petition in this regard.
In the petition, the complainant said the previous investigating officer (IO) did not probe the case properly despite having specific, credible allegations against the accused. So, further investigation is needed, it argued.
On July 4, IO Morshed Hossain Khan, also an inspector of the Detective Branch of police, last year submitted the final report to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka, praying to relieve Rozina of the charges.
In the report, the investigator said no substantial evidence was found against Rozina and the case was an instance of factual error.
On May 17, 2021, Shibbir Ahmed, filed the case against her with Shahbagh Police.
She was confined to the health ministry at the Secretariat for more than five hours that day before being handed over to the police.