Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Tuesday advised the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to go to the Press Council if they have any objection about any news published in the media.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo passed the advice while holding hearing on a rule issued earlier.
The High Court had issued the rule as Suo Moto (voluntary move) after the ACC brought a report, published three-and-a-half months ago on the acquittal of an engineer after investigating into the allegations of illegal acquisition of assets, to the attention of the court.
The report was published in a newspaper on March 2 in 2021. The ACC brought the report in the court’s attention and the court issued a rule over the issue. It also called for all records related the report from the ACC. Besides, the concerned reporter was also directed to cooperate with the court by providing information.
The matter came yesterday for hearing. ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan termed the report as ‘mafia journalism’ during the hearing and demanded action against the reporter. On the other hand the lawyer of the reporter strongly opposed the statement of the ACC lawyer.
At one stage of the hearing the court said, “You (ACC) have to go to the Press Council first if you have any objection or complaint about any news. Moreover, we did not want to know the source of the journalist’s news in this case.”
