The High Court (HC) has released the full text of its judgment that quashed the proceedings of a sedition case against BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, Ekushey Television chairman Abdus Salam and two others.

The High Court (HC) division bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain pronounced the judgment on October 31, 2024, declaring absolute a rule issued earlier in this regard.

The HC on February 2 released the 11-page full text of the judgment and uploaded it on its website.

Then the other two accused in the case were Ekushey Television chief reporter Mahathir Faruki Khan and senior reporter Kanak Sarwar.

"...accordingly it has rightly been said that the initiation and continuation of the instant criminal case since not being operated through following the proper procedure of law, is liable to be quashed," the judgment said.

"We thus find substances in the submission of the learned advocate for the petitioner, the impugned criminal proceedings since not been initiated on complying the legal provision as laid down under section 196 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is nothing but an abuse of the process of the court, which is liable to be quashed as a whole," it added.

Police filed the case against Tarique and Salam for broadcasting the BNP leader's speech from London on January 5, 2015. Police on September 6, 2017, filed a charge-sheet in the case, adding names Mahathir Faruki Khan and Kanak Sarwar in the case.

The High Court in 2017 issued a rule after holding a hearing on a plea filed for canceling the case.