HC bins plea seeking bar on broadcasting Justice Manik’s statement

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

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

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

He submitted the petition seeking direction from the HC asking the information secretary to take steps to prohibit the media from publishing and broadcasting statements of Justice Manik on judiciary and the 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 the dignity of judiciary.

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 statement of Manik, the lawyer said.