The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has set March 13 [tomorrow] for delivering verdict regarding punishment imposed on editors, publishers and reporters of the Prothom Alo and the Bhorer Kagoj by the High Court for publishing report which said LLB certificate of Justice Faisal Mahmud Faizee was forged.
The four-member apex court bench headed by Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana yesterday fixed the date after concluding the hearing over the appeals that challenged the HC verdict.
On March 21, 2005, the HC fined Tk1000 Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman, publisher Mahfuz Anam [now the editor and publisher of the Daily Star], reporters Ekramul Haque Bulbul and Musud Milad as well as the then Bhorer Kagoj editor Abed Khan and publisher Saber Hossain Chowdhury for contempt of court by publishing the reports.
The court also gave two month imprisonment and Tk1,000 fine to the Bhorer Kagoj reporter Shamresh Baidya. The convicts later filed appeals against the verdict.
Dr Kamal Hossain represented Prothom Alo, while Rokonuddin appeared for Bhorer Kagoj.
On October 30, 2004, the two dailies published reports saying the law certificate of Justice Faizee was fake. Later in 2007, Supreme Judicial council was formed to probe into the allegation. Faizee resigned from the judgeship on July 12 the same year.