Tazreen MD, his wife sent to jail on surrender

FE Report | February 10, 2014 00:00:00

Tazreen Fashions owner Delwar Hossain and his wife being taken to prison after their surrender before a Dhaka court Sunday. — FE Photo

A Dhaka court sent Sunday Tazreen Fashions managing director Delwar Hossain, his wife and chairperson of Tazreen Mahmuda Akter to jail hours after they surrendered before it.

The court of Senior Judicial Magistrate Tajul Islam passed the order rejecting their bail petitions in a case over the garment factory's devastating fire that killed at least 112 workers in 2012.

Their surrender came after 40 days of police hunt to arrest them following a lower court order that on December 31, 2013 issued arrest warrants against them.

Taking homicide charges into cognizance, the court issued the arrest warrants against Tazreen's six officials including the MD and chairperson, who were shown fugitive in the charge sheet.

After Sunday's order, lawyers told reporters that after hearing both the parties the court sent the two to jail. The sections, under which the case was filed, are non-bailable as such the court rejected their bail petitions, they added.

Court sources said that during the hearing of their bail petitions, relatives of the killed and injured garment workers chanted slogans demanding exemplary punishment to the accused persons.

Police pressed the charges against 13 people including those six on December 22, 2013.

Other four absconding people, against whom the arrest warrants were issued, are: factory manager Abdur Razzak, its quality control manager, Shahiduzzaman Dulal, production manager Mobarak Hossain Manju and engineer Mahbubul Morshed.

Of the 13 accused persons, only security-in-charge Anisur Rahman was in jail while six others are on bail. They are: manager (admin) Md Dulal Uddin, store-in-charge Hamidul Islam, and Md Al Amin, security in-charge Md Al Amin, security guard Md Rana and loader Shamim Mia.

Investigation Officer (IO) in the case AKM Mohsinuzzaman submitted the charge sheet before the Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court on December 22, one year and eight days after the tragic industrial fire.

The blaze killed at least 112 workers, most of them are women, and injured many others at the factory at Nishchintapur area in Ashulia on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka on November 24, 2012.

In the charge sheet, the accused persons were charged, among others, with death caused by negligence.