Rejoinder on Asian Age report about Bangla Academy

A report headlined “An official runs office at Bangla Academy as Project Director after retirement” appeared in the online version of The Asian Age on 7 October 2025. However, we have received a rejoinder from Barrister Shihab Uddin Khan, Advocate in Appellate Division of Bangladesh Supreme Court.

Barrister Shihab Uddin Khan declined and opposed the allegations described in the above report. The Asian Age always upholds ethical journalism and professional integrity. The Asian Age also values everyone’s rights to express their viewpoints about news items or articles. The rejoinder from Barrister Shihab Uddin Khan is as follows.

Dear Sir,

We have been instructed by our client Dr. Md. Hasan Kabir, Director (Retd), Translation, Textbooks and International Relations Division, Bangla Academy to address you with regard to a defamatory news report published in your newspaper/online on 07.10.2025 under the headline “An official runs office at Bangla Academy as Project Director after retirement”, as under:

1.    That our client is a distinguished academic and service holder having unblemished career who faithfully discharged his duties, including serving as Director (Administration) and Project Director (PD) of the Bangla Academy Library Modernization Project: International Infrastructural Development, Automation and Digitization, until his statutory retirement date.

2.    That our client categorically rejects the entire content of your news reports, which are nothing but misleading, untrue, fabricated and motivated by malice to inflict calculated damage to the image of our client. You have resorted to gross falsehood and created a fictitious narrative without conducting any proper investigation, thereby failing to maintain the minimum ethical standards of journalism.

3.     That at the outset, our client categorically rejects the contents of the report claiming that he is serving as the PD after retirement. Our client’s retirement on December 31, 2024, is an unassailable public record, his retirement, the Director General (DG) of Bangla Academy Professor Mohammad Azam, took over the additional responsibility as the Project Director. Therefore, the statement and headline claiming that Our Client is “Project Director even after retirement” is unequivocally false. The DG, recognizing Our Client’s two years of experience in leading the project, specifically requested him to provide occasional cooperation and consultative assistance for the project’s final execution. This is the sole reason Our Client attends the Academy intermittently and uses the project office. He does not perform the regular duties of the PD, nor does he sign official documents.

4.    That the allegations concerning corruption, including the alleged 5 Crore Taka bribe and financial irregularities in project expenditures (including job racketeering, illegal appointments, and book purchase fraud) are entirely unverified, baseless, fabricated and conceived with malign intention, making them severely defamatory. All funds allocated for the project were strictly spent according to Government Rules and Regulations via the e-GP (e-Tender) process, ensuring complete transparency and compliance. The accusation of irregular expenditure and embezzlement is a malicious misrepresentation of fact.

5.    That the so-called allegation of nonpayment of personal debts is out and out fabricated and false. Moreover, even if had our client have any personal debts, it would be an entirely private civil matter having no relation to our client’s official duty. It is very much apparent that such derogatory claims were made only to humiliate our client in front of the society. These baseless claims are absolutely scandalous and baseless. This is a deliberate fabrication made with ulterior ill motive, intended solely to damage his professional reputation which has been earned through dedication, hard work and excellence.

6.    Under these circumstances, the publication of the aforementioned outrageous, unverified and derogatory news article dated 07.10.2025, demonstrates an intentional disregard of journalistic integrity and constitutes an egregious breach of the ethical standards expected from a professional newspaper. You are under a legal and ethical duty to publish only matters based on facts and authenticity. The article concerned constitutes a gross professional misconduct. In fact the statements and allegations made in the said article are both defamatory to our client and libelous in the eye of law. Our client now reserves his right to take all necessary legal actions in accordance with law.

7.    IN THE ABOVE PREMISES, we have the instructions of our aforementioned client to categorically refute all allegations brought against him in the newspaper report/online report and call upon you to retract your news article unreservedly as having no authentic basis and publish our rejoinder with similar prominence in your news portal at the earliest edition and by no later than within 2 days of receipt of this notice and inform us accordingly. In the event you fail to retract the news report and publish the rejoinder as demanded by our client, our client reserves the right to take appropriate legal action against you all under the prevailing legal provisions of the country including seeking compensation for causing damage to his image and reputation.

A copy of this Notice is kept in our office for future reference.

The above rejoinder was signed by Barrister Shihab Uddin Khan, Advocate, Appellate Division, Bangladesh Supreme Court.