The High Court has set September 29 to pass its order on a writ petition seeking its directives on investigating phone tapping and prevention of leaked phone conversations.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md. Mostafizur Rahman fixed a new date for giving its decision. It was earlier scheduled for Sunday, reports UNB.
Lawyer Mohammad Shishir Monir argued in favour of the writ petitioners. The state's deputy attorney general questioned the admissibility of the writ petition.
On August 10, a writ petition was filed before the HC seeking directions to stop phone tapping. In the writ petition, instructions have been sought to investigate 20 incidents of leaked phone conversations.
Advocate Mohammad Shishir Monir filed the writ petition on behalf of 10 lawyers of the Supreme Court. In the writ petition, the secretary, department of posts and telecommunications, secretary, department of information and communication technology, ministry of telecommunications and information technology, and the Chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BRTC) were made defendants.
Seeking directions for investigation the writ petition mentioned 20 incidents of phone tapping from 2013 to 2021 including that of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Khaleda Zia, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Barrister Moudud Ahmed.
The leaked conversations have been widely used by different TV channels and some of those went viral on social media too. Earlier, the petitioners had sent a legal notice to the BRTC demanding an end to phone tapping. But they did not get any reply and hence filed the writ.
