Fire burns makeshift courtroom in city

A devastating fire has burnt down a makeshift courtroom set up at the Alia Madrasa playground in the capital's Bakshibazar area for holding the trial of BDR carnage cases.
The fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday as the court was scheduled to hold proceedings of an explosives case filed with Lalbagh police station over the 2009 BDR mutiny.
Confirming the matter, Talha Bin Zasim, media cell officer of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, told the FE that firemen worked desperately to extinguish the flames with no report of causalities.
"We came to know about the fire around 4:22 am. Two fire service teams from Lalbagh zone went to the spot, but failed to conduct any operation as local mob obstructed them."
"All the furniture of the makeshift court has been burnt to ashes," according to the fire service official.
However, he declined to make any comment on the cause of the fire.
Meanwhile, special public prosecutor Md Borhan Uddin of the case said conducting trial in the makeshift court was not possible without a major renovation as the fire burnt down the courtroom completely.
"The courtroom has been burnt. At this stage, conducting trial here is not possible without a major overhaul," he told the FE.
As per schedule, Judge Md Ibrahim Miah went to the court premises but could not sit for trial proceedings. Later, he along with prosecution teams and other lawyers concerned visited the scene at 11:45 am.
After consulting the lawyers of both parties, Mr Borhan said, the judge fixed January 19 as the next date of hearing on the case.
Meanwhile, Alia Madrasa students blocked the road around 1:00 am on Thursday, demanding the removal of the temporary special court.
They set up barricades at Dhaka Medical College Hospital intersection, the old central jail area and Bakshibazar orphanage road in the morning, which were later cleared by members of the army and police.
Eyewitnesses and police sources said the protest continued until 11:00 am, with demonstrators burning tyres and obstructing traffic on the road outside the court and its surrounding areas, leading to severe congestion.

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