Will sue Star if requirements in legal notice not fulfilled

A counsel for DSCC Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh has said The Daily Star's statement in response to his client's legal notice is not fully acceptable because the newspaper neither offered unconditional apology nor paid Tk 100 crore in compensation for "defamation".

Both criminal and civil cases will be filed against The Daily Star if it doesn't fulfil the requirements mentioned in the legal notice, Taposh's lawyer Mejbahur Rahman said at a press conference in his Karwan Bazar chamber yesterday morning.

"You know that The Daily Star has published a write-up in which Dhaka South City Corporation and its mayor have been implicated. In response, I sent a legal notice on June 5, seeking some remedies. On June 8, The Daily Star published its reply to the legal notice in the newspaper.

"In the reply, they tried to back up their write-up. They have removed the link to the write-up from their online version, which was one of our requirements. We had also asked them to publish a report offering unconditional apology within 24 hours of receiving the legal notice. Besides, we asked them to give Tk 100 crore in compensation within seven days of receiving the legal notice. But they are yet to do these.

"The write-up, which has undermined the Dhaka South City Corporation and its mayor, has reached readers across the world. We sent the legal notice on June 5 and they received it on June 6. The seven-day period is not over yet. If they communicate with the mayor personally or apologise unconditionally by issuing a statement in the newspaper and give the amount of money mentioned in the legal notice in seven days, then there will be no need to take the next step," the lawyer said.

Asked whether any case will be filed if the money is not paid, the lawyer said he had instructions to take legal action, which means a case will be filed.

He further said The Daily Star in its response tried to defend the write-up. Towards the end of the statement, the newspaper said it's sorry, but it had not apologised unconditionally.

"At the same time, they said they had removed the online link as a gesture of goodwill. Our requirement in the legal notice was unconditional apology. They did not do so… Once the seven-day period is over, the next legal steps will be taken."

The Lex Counsel sent a legal notice dated June 5, 2023, undersigned by Mejbahur, on behalf of  DSCC Mayor Taposh. It finds a satirical article, published in the May 13, 2023, issue of Satireday under the title "Cutting trees to make way for air", highly offensive and defamatory to the notice giver.

The legal notice, which this newspaper received late on June 6 afternoon, allowed it only two days to respond. But before the newspaper could come up with a response within the stipulated time, Lex Counsel held a press briefing on June 7, 2023. There, the law firm stated that Mayor Taposh has served a legal notice on The Daily Star and sought Tk 100 crore for defamation. It went on to term the satire article a "report" or a "column", which is incorrect.

In reply to the legal notice and the subsequent briefing, The Daily Star said, "We humbly reiterate that it was neither a 'report' nor a 'column', but a satirical piece, which is mostly presented in a parody format in mainstream journalism. Satire relies heavily on irony and deadpan humour. Globally, such satirical articles are written on important and powerful persons and/or institutions. Political leaders, Nobel laureates, famous writers and prominent activists are subjects of satire and irony. It is the standard literary and journalistic practice.

"We, however, are shocked to find ourselves so fundamentally misunderstood. In no way was our article meant to defame, humiliate or hurt anybody; it was simply a satire published in Satireday, our weekly page designated for satire. The topic was chosen only because it was one of the public interest issues and many reports, articles and editorials had already been written on it.

"It is a long-standing journalistic practice, and it's known all over the world that important leaders and top-level decision makers are subjects of satire. This piece was written to draw more attention to a matter of public concern and assist the authorities to reconsider and re-evaluate their decision, and not, we repeat, not to hurt anyone in any way. It was furthest from our intention. Still, we are sorry to know that our satire piece has ended up upsetting the notice giver.

"As a gesture of goodwill, we have already unpublished the link upon knowledge of the unintended hurt as communicated in the legal notice."