No headway in Rana Plaza murder case
Proceedings in the murder case over the Rana Plaza collapse have been stalled, following a High Court order six years after the deadly incident that killed more than 1100 people.
Testifying in the murder case was halted after two of them got a stay order from the court challenging the order to frame charges, according to the office of Dhaka district public prosecutor (PP).
Six years ago on 24 April 2013, a total of 1,136 people, mostly readymade garment workers, were killed and 1,169 more were injured and later physically disabled after the multi-storey building collapsed.
Three years ago, the Dhaka district and sessions judge court framed a charge sheet and passed an order to carry on proceedings of the murder case against Sohel Rana, owner of the building, and 40 others.
Earlier, three cases were filed in connection with the Rana Plaza collapse. One was filed under the building construction act. The proceedings in the case were also stalled following a revision appeal by the accused.
The trial of only the case which was filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is now going on.
Bangladesh Centre for Workers Solidarity’s executive director Kalpana Akhter told Prothom Alo, “A lot of people were killed or physically disabled in the incident. But there has been no justice over the past six years. This is a sheer humiliation for the victims. If the workers had any value, justice would be done in 6 months.”
The attorney general Mahbubey Alam said, “The public prosecutors informed me that the trial in the two cases remains stalled following stay order by the High Court in favour of two accused. As soon as possible, the state will take necessary steps over the withdrawal of the stay order.”
Dhaka district’s chief public prosecutor Khandakar Abdul Mannan told Prothom Alo that he earlier informed the attorney general’s office about the matter.
In reality, he added, there is no scope to carry on the trial due to the stay order from the higher court.
He assured that he will soon talk with the attorney general over the matter.
The case was delayed for three years as there was no permission to frame charge sheets against the six government servants involved in the matter.
The public administration, and labour and employment ministry argued that they won’t give permission to frame charges against its officials as they did not commit any serious crime.
The police finally framed charges against the officials despite no permission from the ministry. Taking the matter into cognizance, the Dhaka district and sessions judge court framed the charge sheet on 18 July on 2016.
Dhaka PP office said eight accused filed an appeal with the High Court challenging the charge sheet. Following a hearing on the issue, the higher court passed a stay order. Meanwhile, stay order of six have been withdrawn. The trial remains stalled as the higher court extended stay in favour of former mayor Refayet Ullah and former councilor Mohammad Ali Khan.
Out of 41 accused in the case, only Sohel Rana, owner of the building, is in jail while 32 are on bail, six are in hiding while two of them have died.
Asked about the matter, Supreme Court lawyer Shahdeen Malik told Prothom Alo that it seems that the state has no interest about any cases other than political ones.
This is why the state is not taking any action to withdraw the stay on the case, he said.
What does the charge sheet say?
Savar police first investigated the incident. Then, the Detective Branch (DB) of police probed for the second time and finally, police’s Crime and Investigation Department (CID) conducted another investigation.
According to the charge sheet, a crack was seen on the third floor’s pillars and walls of the Rana Plaza at 9:30am on 23 April 2013. Following the incident, BGMEA officials immediately visited the spot and asked the authorities to stop using the building until a BUET team examined it.
But the owners of five garments factories forced the workers to carry on their work on 24 April. On that day, Rana Plaza’s owners—Khaleq and Sohel Rana—said that ‘the building won’t collapse in a hundred years.’
The charges sheet said Rana Plaza’s owner Khaleq and his son Sohel Rana resorted to corruption at every step of constructing the building, making it a death trap. Five garment factories were opened in the building. Heavy electric generators, big sewing machines were set up inside the building. On the morning of the disaster day, the electricity power went off at 9:00am. They then turned on three generators. The building immediately collapsed.
Statement stopped in another case
CID submitted a charge sheet on 26 April 2015 in a case filed by RAJUK (Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha). The case was filed under the building construction act and 18 persons including Sohel Rana were named. Taking this charge sheet into consideration, on 14 June next year, the senior judicial magistrate of Dhaka framed charges. A number of plaintiffs challenged the order and sought revision with the district and session judge court at Dhaka.
Recording of statements pertaining to the case under the building construction act came to a halt as a revision petition was filed, said state-prosecutor Anwarul Kabir.
The statements will be taken once the documents are delivered from the chief judicial magistrate court. But the course of recording statement has been running under a special judge court of Dhaka division. Charges were framed against 10 people including Sohel Rana on 21 May 2017.
*This report appeared in Prothom Alo print edition has been rewritten in English by Nusrat Nowrin and Toriqul Islam