Four Biman officials including the airline's managing director yesterday unconditionally apologised to the High Court for misbehaving with one of its judges on a plane at Shahjalal International Airport on October 28 this year.
During a hearing of a contempt of court rule, the court directed pilot of the flight Captain Enamul Haque, his co-pilot Captain Abed, and air hostess Shabnam to appear before it on January 8 to explain their misconduct with the judge.
It, however, exempted Air Commodore (retd) Mohammad Zakiul Islam, managing director of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, from personal appearance.
Enamul, Abed and Shabnam were kept standing in the dock yesterday in front of an HC bench, with their hands clasped together in a posture of begging mercy, on charge of disrespecting the Supreme Court. The Biman MD was however not put in the dock, although he was also present at the court.
The bench ordered the Biman MD to immediately publish advertisements on the front pages of seven national dailies including The Daily Star, explaining what happened between the Biman crew and Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik, a judge of the HC, on that day.
The six other dailies where the advertisement has to be published are the Prothom Alo, the Ittefaq, the Janakantha, the Shamokal, the Bhorer Kagoj, and the Amader Shomoy.
The Daily Star on October 29 published a report with the headline "Biman's flight delayed for altercation on plane".
The HC bench yesterday ordered the Biman MD to find out the persons at the airline who were involved in supplying wrong information to the media about the incident, and to take action against them.
It ordered that pending inquiry air hostess Shabnam must be kept grounded. The three contemnors who were in the dock must bear the cost of running the advertisements, the court said.
On December 5 the bench first issued contempt of court rule against the Biman MD and Captain Enamul following a relevant petition filed by Riaz Uddin Khan, a lawyer of the SC.
Yesterday the bench issued the same rule against Captain Abed and Shabnam as well.
All four contemnors were ordered to explain by January 8 why contempt proceedings should not be brought against them and why they should not be punished.
Riaz moved the petition following reports recently published in some newspapers including the daily Ittefaq and the daily Janakantha which claimed that the judge was in no fault, and he was a victim of Biman crew's indecent behaviour.
Petitioner's counsel Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud said it was a conspiracy hatched by the two pilots and the air hostess along with others who had been appointed to Biman by a particular past government, as Justice Manik had passed some important judgments about which the people of that past government are not happy.
He said an extensive investigation should be carried out to unearth the conspiracy. He said under the Biman rules, VIPs are always escorted onboard an aircraft by protocol officers of the airline, and they also arrange VIP seating for such passengers.
Biman's documents show that the airline's VIP handling officer, Ruhul Amin, escorted Justice Manik on to the aircraft and seated him in a VIP seat, he said.
The justice himself did not choose the seat, he added. Yet, after a few minutes, Captain Enam, at the instigation of air hostess Shabnam and co-pilot Captain Abed, sent people to the justice to tell him in front of many other passengers to vacate the VIP seat and go to the economy class, Rokanuddin added saying that the pilot also declared that he would not take the aircraft off the ground until the judge went to the economy class.
This was highly humiliating and undermining for the justice and the judiciary, Rokanuddin argued.
He said the justice asked the crew of the plane to contact the Biman MD. They contacted the station manager who rushed to the aircraft and apologised to the justice and said the problem occurred because he himself was not present on the plane during the justice's boarding.
Rokanuddin said the station manager also confirmed that the justice was sitting at the right place because as a VIP he was entitled to the VIP seat. The station manager also confirmed that they got instruction from the Biman head office the previous day for taking special care of the justice during the flight, Rokanuddin claimed.
He made the disclosure based on documents procured from Biman records, which are in the case file.
It is clear from the Biman documents that the news was false and fabricated, he said adding that he had never appeared in a contempt case before, but he appeared in this one only because he feels that the judiciary's image has been devastatingly damaged by The Daily Star news, and the facts should be restored.
He also submitted that all contemnors except the Biman MD should be sentenced to prison terms.
Rokanuddin said almost everyday even undeserving pilots and Biman officials are upgraded to business class. Yet, the pilot on that day could not tolerate the presence of a VIP in a VIP seat. He also said as per the Biman resolution and practices, tickets of VIPs above the rank of a parliament member are almost always upgraded.
He said exemplary punishment should be meted out to the contemnors to restore the dignity of the SC.
Advocate Manzil Murshid, another counsel for the petitioner, said unless heavy punishment is meted out, Biman crew will carry on with their heavy-handed behaviour.
He also said Biman pilots and crew do not treat ordinary passengers like human beings. If they can treat an HC judge so roughly, it is quite imaginable how they treat ordinary passengers. The contemnors do not deserve any compassion or mercy, he argued.
Parliament members Advocate Fazle Rabbi Miah and Advocate Nurul Islam Sujan, and Awami League Presidium Member Advocate Yousuf Hossain Humayun, who were present at the hearing, also condemned the impudence of the contemnors.
Advocate Anisul Huq, counsel for Captain Enam, said he did not see the prosecution documents beforehand and had he seen those earlier he would not have taken up this case, because it is obvious from the Biman records that his client was at fault.
It should be investigated who supplied the false and fabricated information to the media, he added saying the court however should show magnanimity and pardon the contemnors.
He also said there could be a possibility that Captain Enam was used as a pawn by some quarters. But he agreed with the contention that the contemnors severely damaged the SC's dignity.
During the proceedings, Captain Enam, Captain Abed and air hostess Shabnam contradicted each other as to who asked the justice to vacate the VIP seat. Enam and Abed said they directed Shabnam to take special care of the justice as per Biman's rules, but Shabnam did not carry out their instructions. Shabnam, however, denied the allegation and said she took special care of the justice.
Advocate Tawfique Nawaz, appearing as an amicus curiae or a friend of the court, told the bench that the news published in The Daily Star did not only devastate the credibility and besmirched the image of an individual judge but also dented the credibility of the entire judiciary and the nation as a whole, because the newspaper is widely read by people abroad.
Referring to the Biman MD's statement, he said The Daily Star story had no relationship with truth, and an order should be passed on the newspaper requiring it to supply the identity of the persons who had supplied false and fabricated information to it.
He said if a false report could be written about an HC judge then such reports can be written about anybody.
OUR CLARIFICATION
The Daily Star ran a news story on the above incident on October 29 this year. In view of yesterday's proceedings we have re-examined our story and have come to the conclusion that our story did not cover versions of all the parties involved in the incident. So, we stand corrected.