The High Court yesterday issued a contempt of court rule on two Bangla dailies -- Samakal and Naya Diganta -- for publishing a joint statement of the Dhaka Reporters Unity president and general secretary on a sub-judice matter.
The court asked DRU President Shahed Chowdhury and General Secretary Elias Khan to appear before it on Wednesday to explain their statement on barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud's arguments during the hearing of a contempt rule on another Bangla daily, Prothom Alo.  
In yesterday's rule, the editors and publishers of Samakal and Naya Diganta have been asked to explain why contempt proceedings should not be brought against them for publishing the statement.
The statement was issued on Sunday opposing Rokanuddin's arguments before the HC on March 6, and the two dailies published it yesterday.
On March 6, the HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Zafar Ahmed took note of two statements by a number of journalists following the contempt of court rule on Prothom Alo.  
The court also questioned whether any statement on a sub-judice matter should be made or published in the media.  
Yesterday, Rokanuddin placed copies of the two newspapers, carrying the DRU leaders' statement, before the same HC bench, and sought a court directive.
During yesterday's hearing of the rule on Prothom Alo, Mizanur Rahman Khan, joint editor of the daily, stood in the dock for an hour and 15 minutes from 2:15pm before his lawyer Shahdeen Malik took the court's permission to let him sit down.
The court fixed 2:00pm today for further hearing on the rule and asked Mizanur to appear before it.     
The same HC bench on March 2 issued the rule on Prothom Alo for publishing an article headlined "Minute-e Ekti Agam Jamin Kibhabe" (how is it possible to grant an anticipatory bail every minute) on February 28.
In the rule, Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman and Mizanur were asked to explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for publishing the article.
The court issued the rule in a suo moto move after some lawyers, including Rokanuddin and barrister Rafique-Ul Huq, had drawn the judges' attention to the article.
During yesterday's proceedings, Supreme Court lawyers Ajmalul Hossain, Zainul Abedin, Kazi Aktar Hamid, Asad Ullah, Ahsanul Karim and Salahuddin Dolon placed arguments in support of the contempt rule on Prothom Alo.