The High Court today described former BNP communications minister Nazmul Huda and Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman as 'wrong headed' and 'worthless' for making a derogatory statement about the court's judgment.

The HC bench of justices ABM Khairul Haque and Mamtazuddin Ahmed passed the comment while hearing a contempt petition against Huda and Kamaruzzaman filed yesterday for their statements regarding an HC judgment on proclamation of independence of the country.

The court disposed of the petition saying, "we will not issue any rule against the persons who are not aware of the dignity and authority of the HC judges." Advocate Manzil Murshed filed the petition. Murshed told that Kamruzzaman and Huda had said that the HC judgment on the proclamation of the independence was the personal judgments of the judges concerned.

"They had also said the judges had delivered a political judgment. Their statements were published in different newspapers on June 30," Murshed said adding that the statements have undermined the dignity of the judges as well as the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the HC exempted former Dhaka University vice chancellor Professor Emazuddin Ahmed from court appearance in person in connection with a contempt of court petition against him.

Supreme Court lawyer SM Zafar Ali filed the contempt petition with a High Court bench on Wednesday, accusing them of speaking against the court's judgement. The court on June 21 ruled that independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. The proclamation has been a contentious issue between the Awami League and BNP for decades, with the latter claiming their leader and former president was the one to declare independence.

Petitioner Zafar Ali said that Huda and Kamaruzzaman had dishonoured the court by terming the judgement 'political' and 'motivated'. He filed the petition following reports in newspapers published on June 30, quoting the two opposition leaders. The High Court, earlier on June 24, charged former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University, Emajuddin Ahmed, with contempt after he spoke against the same verdict. Emajuddin said that High Court was running "a malign campaign".