Supreme Court asks for footage, transcript of Somoy TV talk-show

The Supreme Court has asked for video footage, audio and transcript of a talk show aired by Somoy TV to find whether remarks made during the programme constituted contempt of court.

The private TV station's chief executive officer or the programme's producer will have to submit them at the Supreme Court Registrar General's Office by Sep 4.

The talk-show was aired on Tuesday night after the Appellate Division dismissed war crimes convict Mir Quasem Ali's review petition and confirmed his death sentence for the atrocities committed during the 1971 Liberation War.

The apex court's order for Somoy TV has come in the backdrop the chief justice's displeasure with the prosecution team of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam brought the talk-show issue to Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha's attention around 9:30am on Wednesday after the court opened.

Alam said, "The discussion on this court, tribunal and Mir Quasem's verdict that took place in the talk-show should be checked to see whether they constituted contempt."

The court at the time asked for the channel's name. The attorney general said, "Somoy TV."

The chief justice's dissatisfaction over the inefficiency of the prosecution and investigation panel during the appeal and review hearings in Mir Quasem's case has caused a furore.

On Sunday, Alam told reporters the chief justice had observed during the review hearing that the chief prosecutor and prosecutors he assigned to Mir Quasem's trial do not 'deserve to be where they are'.

After Tuesday's review verdict, he said, "If the prosecution had conducted the case efficiently, the death sentence for Charge No. 12 would have been upheld in the appeal verdict."

Somoy TV broadcasted the 'Sompadokio' (Editorial) talk-show headlined 'War crimes trials and Prosecution in the dock', in which participants discussed these issues, on 10pm Tuesday and repeated it on Wednesday morning.

Moderated by the channel's Managing Director Ahmed Jobaer, the talk-show's discussants included by former Appellate Division judge Justice Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik, ICT prosecutor Barrister Tureen Afroz and senior journalist Swapan Dasgupta.