THE high-powered task force set up to complete the investigation of the murder of journalists Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi now follows the same legacy that such investigations did during fallen Awami League regime. The journalist couple was found dead in their flat in Dhaka on February 11, 2012. And, the police investigation report is yet to be forthcoming. Soon after the interim government was installed, the High Court in September 2024 directed the government to form a high-powered task force with experienced personnel of various agencies. In October 2024, the home affairs ministry formed the task force for investigation. The task force, led by the Police Bureau of Investigation, has, however, missed deadlines three times and sought more time. The investigating officer on April 26 sought another extension from the High Court. A metropolitan magistrate’s court in Dhaka, meanwhile, on April 1 extended the deadline for report submission for the 125th time. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party in its election pledged media freedom, yet no decisive action has been taken to complete the investigation of the journalist couple murder.
The way the task force justifies its failure to complete the investigation by the deadline is even more disappointing because it relied on the same rhetorical tendency used during the deposed Awami League regime. The investigation has changed hands three times since the murders. The Detective Branch stepped in after the police had worked for a couple of days, the Rapid Action Battalion took over in April 2012 and then, the high-powered task force has investigated the case. More than a year and a half after its formation, a task force member on April 26 told the High Court that it was yet to receive the case docket. In October 2025, it told the court that the officers investigating the case under the Awami regime destroyed the evidence. In April 2025, they said that some important case documents were missing and that they had sent some evidence to the United States for testing. But in August 2017, the battalion said that it had received DNA test reports from the United States and was trying to identify two people based on the reports. Instead of providing the victim families with any concrete update on the investigation, the blame being put down on the past regime has created grounds for the public to be concerned.
The government should, therefore, realise that delay undermines journalists’ safety concerns and ensure justice for the murdered couple. It should also consider expanding the scope of the investigation to identify the people who allegedly delayed the legal process and expeditiously establish justice in the couple murder case and other similar unresolved cases.
