I have liberty to ask questions during hearing of case

Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has urged the media not to 'misquote' him from court proceedings. He says misreporting creates confusion and he felt embarrassed by this.

Justice Sinha made the call at a programme to mark the unveiling of a book at the Supreme Court Bar Association Auditorium on Thursday amid criticism of his observations in the verdict on the 16th constitutional amendment.

"I have a request for you (media). I don't actually utter any vague word. But you have reported so. Please don't misquote me."

"Some of the comments I made in court were distorted and that embarrassed me. I don't want to see that again."

The Awami League has been criticising Justice Sinha's observations in the 16th  amendment verdict, alleging some of those belittled Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and some others on the parliament and the government were irrelevant.

The leaders of the ruling party are up in arms again, alleging that Justice Sinha threatened Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with removal much the same way Pakistan's Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from holding office last month.

The Awami League affiliates have even demanded resignation of Sinha as chief justice, and threatened him with protests.

The BNP has expressed concern that the government may remove Sinha from office after on the pretext that he is 'ill'.

It has welcomed the revival of the Supreme Judicial Council to sack top court judges through the verdict declaring the 16th amendment illegal.

Justice Sinha spoke at the programme on Thursday with this huge debate in the backdrop.

He noted that it was not possible for him to call a news conference to speak about anything.

"I can ask any lawyer any question as a judge during the hearing of a case. I have this liberty.

"But there might be mistakes in quoting me without understanding the context and objective of the question. Please be careful while doing this," he said.    �bdnews24.com

(Published 2017/08/25 at 8:42 am)