A Supreme Court lawyer has filed a writ petition with the High Court seeking the court's directives to ban the publication or broadcasting Justice Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik's statements about the judiciary in all media.
SC lawyer Ehsanur Rahman filed the petition on behalf of Advocate Zulfiqure Ali on Monday.
Earlier on February 18, Advocate Zulfiqur Ali sent a letter to Justice Manik asking him to apologise before the nation “for making derogatory remarks against the chief justice and the Judiciary.”
After handing over documents of the judgments and orders he finished writing after retiring to the Supreme Court on February 8, Justice Manik said: “A retired judge cannot write judgements ... Khaleda Zia said this long ago. Now he [chief justice] is saying this [again] as her spokesperson to fulfill her agenda. He has a political motivation.
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“The CJ said that the executive wing of the state had been taking away the autonomy of judiciary, which is not true at all. He is spreading false information to ruin the government’s popularity ... I think he should step down.
“How come he is still holding the position of chief justice even after confessing that he was a member of a peace committee [during the Liberation War]?”
When he was a High Court judge in 2012, Justice Manik had accused the then speaker of the Parliament Abdul Hamid, now the president, of committing an offence tantamount to sedition.
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He accused Hamid for making a comment in the House on a High Court order.
He also said the speaker was completely ignorant of the apex court and the constitution.
Following his comments, the MPs reacted sharply and blasted Justice Manik.
In an unscheduled discussion in the parliament on June 5, 2012, they accused him of violating the constitution for making derogatory remarks about the speaker.