Khaleda case hearing
CJ regrets newsmen’s entry denial
The chief justice, ABM Khairul Haque, has regretted denial of entry into the courtroom of journalists who went to the Supreme
Court to cover the proceedings when his court was hearing an appeal petition of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Wednesday.
He also assured a delegation of Law Reporters Forum who met him at his chamber in the Supreme Court that appropriate steps would be taken so that such incidents did not take place again.
Justice Khairul Haque, however, said that no bar on journalists was imposed by any authority of the Supreme Court.
Law enforcers might have refused to let the journalists in as they took security precaution on the court premises after Tuesday’s untoward incidents involving some lawyers during hearing in Khaleda’s petition in the chamber judge’s courtroom, the chief justice said.
The chief justice asked the Supreme Court registrar to ensure entry of all lawyers to enter the courtroom after the Supreme Court Bar Association president, Khandker Mahbub Hossain, told him that lawyers willing to cover the proceedings were being harassed.
‘Had the president of the bar or the attorney general told me that the journalists were being barred from entering the court, I would have asked the registrar to ensure their entry,’ the chief justice said.
The Supreme Court registrar, Md Ashraful Islam, who was also present, told the delegation that the chief justice’s personal secretary Md Mehedi was transferred on Thursday for not informing him about the journalists who tried in vain to meet the chief justice on Wednesday.
The delegation included the forum president Swapan Das Gupta, general secretary M Badiuzzaman, former president Faruk Quazi and founding member Shahiduzzaman.
