Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Wednesday asked the concerned authorities of the government to continue providing protocol without fail to those who have been extended such privileges as per the warrant of precedence.
The High Court bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Mohammad Ali passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed by Advocate Shahinur Rahman seeking necessary order over the issue.
“The Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police and other concerned in the metropolitan cities and all other townships have been directed to provide the requisite privileges by virtue of the constitution, warrant of precedence and the laws of this land,” the High Court bench said in the order.
In the yesterday’s order, the court observed, “As such, it is important to remind everyone that when the justices of the courts think aloud and speak their thoughts, it is risky to take their words in that situation as being the ultimate version. In the case at hand, the words of Justice F R M Nazmul Ahasan and Justice K M Kamrul Kader has been taken out of context and has thus gone on to create confusion in numerous cases. In the future, it is imperative that people do not jump to conclusions simply based on the words uttered by the court without having gone through the final judgement, where then court is allowed time to reflect and properly articulate its intentions and thoughts.”
“This holds most true for those burdened with the task of delivering news to the public. Being the mouthpiece of the agents of society and state, we hold journalists to high esteem and thus expect them to bear also great responsibility. Such responsibility must entail, reflecting the whole truth, as opposed to simply highlighting fractions of it,” the court said in the observation.
The HC bench directed the Supreme Court Registrar General to circulate the copy of the order to all District Judges of the country immediately. Besides, the HC directed to convey the order at once to the Cabinet Secretary and the Secretary-in-Charge of Ministry of Public Administration for information and immediate action.
Advocate Ekramul Hoque appeared in the court on behalf of the writ petitioner.
The lawyer filed the petition as some online portals recently published news, under the banner of “Supreme Court judge sought VIP protocol ignoring HC’s order”, wrongly citing a comment of another High Court bench, though the HC bench did not pass any order not to provide protocol to the Constitutional post holders.
The HC bench of Justice F R M Nazmul Ahasan and Justice K M Kamrul Kader on July 31 commented that government officials are merely the servants of the republic, and they are not “very important persons (VIPs)”.
Only the President and the Prime Minister of the country are the VVIPs (very, very important persons) and security issues are involved with regard to their movements, said the bench while hearing a writ petition filed in connection with the death of 13-year-old Titash Ghosh.
In the petition, the lawyer said, some online newspapers of the country namely— Bangladesh Today, Dhaka Tribune, Awaz BD, Barishal Times, Purba Pashchim, 24 Live Newspaper— published a baseless news on August 2 which was absolutely derogatory to the honor and dignity of the Supreme Court judges.
