Charges were framed against 13 people including the owner of Tazreen Fashions yesterday in a case filed for negligence that caused the death of at least 111 workers in the deadliest factory fire incident of the country in 2012.
Dhaka’s District and Sessions Judge’s Court indicted the accused and set October 1 for recording depositions of prosecution witnesses. It also ordered to transfer the case documents to the First Additional District and Sessions Judge’s Court for further proceedings.
The Criminal Investigation Department filed the charge sheet on December 22, 2013 accusing the 13 people in the case filed by Ashulia police. It mentioned 104 people as prosecution witness.
According to the charge sheet, Tazreen Fashions Managing Director Delwar Hossain and his wife, Chairman Mahmuda Akter, constructed the building following a faulty plan and illegally used the ground-floor walkway as a warehouse.
There was no fire exit in the factory, although a provision of the labour law stipulates that there must be two exits in every factory. The fire extinguishers were also dysfunctional at the time of fire.
The factory was built a mile away from the main road – at Nishchintapur of Ashulia – making it very difficult for fire service vehicles to enter the factory compound.
Fire alarms went off as soon as the fire broke out, and the panicked workers tried to leave the factory before the fire spread. But the accused managers and security guards told them it was nothing serious; they insisted that workers get back to work, even though smoke was billowing from the spot where the fire had started, the charge sheet says.
The fire killed at least 111 workers, mostly women, and injured scores of others on November 24, 2012. Of them, 58 victims could be identified prima facie immediately while 53 others identified through DNA tests as the bodies had been charred in the fire.
Tazreen Fashions was a sister concern of Tuba Group, owned by Delwar.
Six government and non-government agencies also probed the incident and submitted their investigation reports to the Home Ministry.
The incident raised a wave of concern throughout the national and international community over factory building standards in Bangladesh.
Two cases were filed after the deadly incident – one by Ashulia police against 15 officials and the other by relative of a missing worker against 31 people including Delwar. A court earlier ordered to run the cases together.
Of the 13, eight accused – Delwar, Mahmuda, Manager (admin) Dulal Uddin, Engineer M Mahbubul Morshed, store in-charges Md Hamidul Islam and Al Amin, security in-charges Al Amin and Anisur Rahman – are now on bail.
The fugitive accused are Production Manager Mobarak Hossain Manju, Factory Manager Abdur Razzak, Quality Manager Shahiduzzaman Dulal, guard Md Rana and loader Shamim Miah.
The investigation officer dropped the names of former chairman Abdul Kuddus, APM Sohel Rana and Cutting Master Sujan Hawlader failing to find any proof of their involvement in the incident.
During yesterday’s hearing, defence counsels filed discharge petitions terming the incident an accident. They also claimed that their clients were innocent as the factory had been operational upon approval of the government authorities.
Judge SM Kuddus Zaman then said: “It is an internationally-sensitive case. So, there is no scope to discharge the accused in the case. They have to face the trial.”
After the prosecution read out the charges, the accused pleaded not guilty and prayed for justice.
One of the accused, Engineer Mahbub, who had been fugitive for a long time, surrendered before the court yesterday and sought bail. The court granted his petition after a hearing.
