Legal notice seeks media statement ban on active cases

A legal notice has been served on the authorities concerned of the government asking them to stop media briefings on under-trail cases including the gruesome murder of Jhenaidah-4 MP Anwarul Azim Anar in light of a High Court directive.

Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir sent the legal notice on Wednesday.

The notice was sent to senior secretary at the public security division of the home ministry, inspector general of police and commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) to take necessary measures to this effect.

According to the notice, MP Anwarul Azim Anar went missing after going to West Bengal for treatment. As per the information published in the media, he was brutally murdered. His body has not been recovered yet. The issue has created a sensation among the country’s people which has become the “talk of the country”. Real-time updates are being disseminated through electronic, press, and social media.

The governments of Bangladesh and India are investigating with utmost importance in this regard. From time to time, the authorities are officially releasing updated information about the incident. Journalists are raising various questions about the situation. The authorities are giving answers in front of the media in perspective. A lot of small things are coming up. Besides, live telecasts is also going on. Different media are making headlines according to their choice. Freelancers are broadcasting on popular social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok by referring to segments, creating confusion among people.

Mentioning the case of Ayesha Siddiqa Minni VS state (39 BLD 470), the notice reminded the authorities that the High Court had earlier issued directives to the authorities concerned not to speak to media about the updates of cases under investigation citing human rights issues among others.

Shishir Manir mentioned that, in that case, the High Court said that during the investigation of various sensational crimes, accused persons arrested by various law enforcement agencies, including Police-RAB, are presented before the media in various ways before they are produced in the respective courts, which is often undignified and unacceptable from the point of view of human rights and Briefings are conducted in front of the media with great enthusiasm about the investigation of various cases.

Citing the High Court's directives, the lawyer said: "We have to remember that until and unless an accused is found guilty on the basis of evidence at the end of the trial in court, it cannot be conclusively said that he is the real criminal or that the crime was committed by him.”

“It is not appropriate to present an arrested person before the media in such a manner that his dignity and honour are lost and during the investigation before the filing of the police report, it is not appropriate to present any statement to the media about the arrested person or the investigation process of the case, which creates controversy or question in the public mind about the impartiality of the investigation,” the notice added.

The notice also informed that if the media does not stop broadcasting the statements about the case under investigation in the light of the judgment of the High Court, a writ will be filed in this regard.