THE High Court on Wednesday expressed hope that journalists would bear great responsibility while preparing and publishing reports on Supreme Court proceedings. Earlier in the day, a SC lawyer filed a writ petition seeking necessary order on the issue. He submitted the petition as some “online newspapers” published reports on August 2 “misquoting” an observation made by another HC Bench on July 31 about the importance of people’s lives and the protocol for VIPs.
The Bench had observed earlier 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. But some media on August 2 allegedly published reports misquoting the HC observation.
It is quite true that journalists need to bear great responsibility. But so do other important sections of our society. Our teachers need to ensure that they teach well so that students won’t be forced to come to them for tuition. Our madrasa principals need to ensure that they don’t look lustfully at their students and try to kill them by burning them.
Our bus drivers need to think of their passengers as human beings and not as sacks of potatoes whose limbs or lives can be chopped off at any opportunity. Our police officers need to think of their detainees during infamous remand periods as citizens of the nation who have full rights and not as mannequins which can be beaten up or thrown about — or raped, an evinced in the recent case in Khulna where an OC and a SI were accused of rape and closed.
Our Municipal officials need to think of the lives lost due to their direct negligence in carrying out their great responsibility — eradicating mosquitoes in the city. They let corruption get in the way of doing so — and it directly affects the lives of thousands. Our doctors need to think of patients as individuals in suffering and not as walking bags of money who can be charged exorbitant sums for dengue tests.
The truth is that the whole system of ruining the country has no accountability. No section of the government is under obligation to be responsible about their rightful duties. The government has denied its public accountability in the last general election. The lower judiciary is completely in the grip of the government and even the Supreme Court is not much in a position to give protection to the lower judiciary. The country is in a mess because of our collective lack of courage to show responsibly in discharge our duties. The world is seen us as a helpless nation living in fear.
