HC scraps plea seeking ban on media coverage of Justice Manik's statements

The High Court has rejected a writ petition seeking a restriction on broadcasting statements of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik, a former Supreme Court judge, about the judiciary and SC.

The HC bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Krishna Debnath rejected the petition on Tuesday, considering that it was not placed before it properly.

The petitioner, SC lawyer SM Zulfiqar Ali, confirmed it to The Daily Star yesterday.

He submitted the petition for a direction from the HC on the information secretary asking him to take a step prohibiting the media from publishing and broadcasting statements of Justice Manik in the media on the judiciary and SC. The petitioner's lawyer AKM Ehsanur Rahman alleged on Monday that Justice Manik recently made some statements in some television talk shows, which undermined judiciary's dignity.

The media have constitutional rights to enjoy freedom of expression and freedom of speech with some restrictions, but those restrictions were not followed in broadcasting the statements of Manik, the lawyer said.