Court orders arrest of Janakantha editor, two others over ‘defamatory’ article against chief justice

A Dhaka court has issued arrest warrants for Janakantha Editor Atikullah Khan Masud and two others of his daily for publishing a ‘defamatory’ article against Chief Justice SK Sinha.

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The court of Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Rani Chakrabarty issued the order on Monday afternoon, as they had not showed up, said plaintiff Arfan Uddin Khan.

 

The two others are Janakantha Advisory Editor Toab Khan and Executive Editor Swadesh Roy.

 

Dhaka Metropolitan Bar Association President Arfan filed the suit on Feb 22.

 

The complainant says the article by Swadesh Roy, published by the daily on Feb 4, claimed “Sinha, 22 years of age at the time, had joined Ghulam Azam-founded Shanti Bahini during the Liberation War”.

 

He says the newspaper ran two reports on Jan 19 and 20 on the chief justice that were also ‘defamatory and false’.

 

After a hearing on Feb 22, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court summoned the three on Mar 21 for an explanation.

 

But they did not turn up, the plaintiff said.

 

Earlier, in August last year, the Appellate Division had penalised the Janakantha editor and executive editor for questioning, in another article, the role of judges in a case.