Court exempts 2 dailies, 7 journalists
The High Court yesterday exempted seven journalist leaders as well as the editors and publishers of two Bangla dailies from a contempt of court rule.
The HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Zafar Ahmed passed the order after the journalist leaders and the editors and publishers of Samakal and Naya Diganta sought exemption from the charge.
Court proceedings remained suspended for about 50 minutes, as scuffles broke out between lawyers and journalists around 11:00am over the presence of media people inside the courtroom. The chaos continued till 11:30am in and outside the courtroom.
The HC issued the contempt rule on the newspapers in question on March 9 for making and publishing statements on Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud's arguments during the hearing of a contempt rule on the Bangla daily Prothom Alo.
It also asked the seven journalist leaders, including Dhaka Reporters Unity President Shahed Chowdhury and General Secretary Elias Khan, to appear before it yesterday to explain their statements.
The court yesterday dropped the contempt of court proceedings against the journalists after hearing the concluding arguments on the rule.
The same court is set to deliver a verdict today on the contempt rule on Prothom Alo.
As yesterday's hearing began at 10:50am, some lawyers allegedly hurled abusive words at journalists, saying it was difficult for them to work as there were too many journalists inside the courtroom.
When the media persons protested, the lawyers got agitated and tried to drive out the journalists, including leaders of the Jatiya Press Club, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and Dhaka Union of Journalists.
At one stage, the two judges left the courtroom.
The chaos then spread outside the courtroom on the first floor of the Annexe Building of the High Court, and continued till 11:30am.
A number of journalists and lawyers, who were outside the courtroom during the hearing, became involved in altercations and hurled abusive words at one another.
"Some lawyers could not accept the presence of journalists inside the courtroom. They tried to force them out," said Saleh Uddin, president of Law Reporters' Forum.
Later, police with the help of some lawyers and senior journalists brought the situation under control.
The judges returned to the courtroom around 12:00noon and resumed the proceedings.
Before passing the order, the court observed that the incident had been unexpected, and everybody should be careful that it did not repeat in the future.
It was also unexpected that the incident inside the courtroom was videoed, said the court.
Apart from Shahed and Elias, the other journalist leaders summoned to the HC were Dhaka University Journalists Association President MM Jasim and its General Secretary Saddam Hossain, Barisal Division Journalists Association President Abdur Rahman, Jagannath University Journalists Association President Kazi Mobarak Hossain and its General Secretary M Sujaul Islam.
However, Rahman couldn't appear in court owing to illness.
Comments