High Court moved to ban broadcasting Tarique in Bangladesh

A lawyer has moved court seeking a ban on the broadcast of speeches by the BNP’s Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman who has often made headlines with controversial remarks on Bangladesh's history.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 6 Jan 2015, 05:22 PM
Updated : 6 Jan 2015, 06:25 PM

The plea, filed Tuesday by one Nasrin Siddiqui Lina, sought High Court orders directing the information secretary to prevent newspapers, electronic media and social media from publicising, broadcasting or reproducing Tarique's speeches.

It also asks for a ruling on why the information secretary should not be directed to ban publicising Tarique's speeches.

Secretaries to the information, home, and law ministries, the inspector general of police, BTV director general, BTRC chairman, Ekushey TV chief news editor, Kaler Kantha editor and Tarique himself have been named defendants.

The BNP leader has been distorting Bangladesh's history and criticising the nation's founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family.

Tarique, accused in a raft of cases including one for allegedly trying to kill Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has been in the UK since 2008.

The presumed heir of BNP chief Khaleda Zia claimed Bangabandhu was a "Razakar" and an "illegal prime minister", and that his father, military ruler Gen Ziaur Rahman, was Bangladesh's first president.

Plaintiff Lina said the BNP leader was "hurting the sentiment of Bangladeshis" and disturbing peace.

The plea has been forwarded to the bench of justices Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Abu Taher Mohammad Saifur Rahman for a hearing.

"As it is not possible to spot and arrest the culprit now, so the information secretary can be directed to ban the broadcast of his speech," the petition argued.