The Daily Janakantha Editor Atiqullah Khan Masud, Advisory Editor Toab Khan and Executive Editor Swadesh Roy yesterday were summoned to appear at a Dhaka court on March 21 to face defamation charges.

Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Rani Chakroborty summoned them hours after advocate Arfan Uddin Khan, former president of Dhaka Metropolitan Bar Association, filed the case over an article published in the daily on February 4.

Titled "Oboshorer Pore Raie Lekha: Agenda Khaledar, Bastobayoner Dae Ekhon Notun Kadhe" (writing verdicts after retirement: agenda is of Khaleda's, execution onus falls on new shoulder), the article tarnished the judiciary's image and defamed the plaintiff, for he was an officer of the court, says the case statement.