TDS Desk:

A legal notice has been served to the government’s authorities to follow directives of the High Court for not talking to the media before final reports submitted by the police in any under-investigation cases, including MP Azim’s murder.

Lawyer Mohammad Shishir Monir sent this notice to the Senior Secretary of Public Security Department, Inspector General of Police, and Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Wednesday (May 29).

In the notification, he said, according to media report Jhenaidah-4 Constituency Member of Parliament Anwarul Azim Anar was brutally murdered after he went missing in West Bengal of India.

In this regard, Bangladesh and India governments are making utmost effort to investigate the matter, but still time to time the authorities giving statements on the incident in media as Journalists raise questions. Due to which many information are being disclosed.

However, media’s ‘Real time updates’ including fascinating headlines in social media create sensation among people.

In the notification lawyer Shishir Monir citing examples of Abrar murder, Feni’s Nusrat murder, and Feni’s Ekram murder said, “A similar trend has been observed in sensational cases under investigation in the past as well.”

He said, “Regarding information providing to media, our High Court Division on 29 August 2019 issued necessary directions while hearing Ayesha Siddiqa Minni v. State case (39 BLD 470).”

“HC said, we all have to remember that until and unless an accused is found guilty on the basis of evidence at the end of trial in a 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 way that his dignity and honour are lost and during the investigation i.e. 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,’ quoted the lawyer in his notification.

In such a situation, all concerned are requested to comply with the instructions of the High Court Department in all cases under investigation, including the murder of Anwarul Azim Anar.