The much-awaited trial in the case of the horrific flyover collapse that killed 17 people in Chittagong’s Bahaddarhat in 2012 has been dragging on for nearly a decade since the incident.
So far, 19 out of 27 witnesses have testified in the case. The absence of some witnesses on the dates they were meant to testify has delayed the proceedings.
“The trial process is nearing completion. We are working hard to ensure that those accused in this case receive the harshest possible punishment,” said Chittagong Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court Additional Public Prosecutor Anupam Chakraborty.
He hoped that the case would be closed once the court resumed a recording of testimonies on October 3.
Anupam Chakraborty said that the trial had been pending with the Chittagong Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court for a long time and gained pace when referred to the Chittagong Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court in 2020.
On the night of November 24, 2012, at least 17 people were killed and several others were critically injured when three girders of the under-construction Bahaddarhat Flyover collapsed. Substandard construction materials were used and safety measures had not been in place, according to a preliminary probe report.
The case was lodged on November 26 against three officials of Chittagong Development Authority (CDA), 10 officials of Mir Akhter and Parisha Trade Systems, and 12 officials of consultancy firms SRM Associates and DPM.
Police submitted the charge sheet in court, implicating only eight people, including the seven accused in the FIR, on October 24, 2013, and dropped the names of three CDA officials, the managing director of the contracting firm, and 18 other people, including the consulting firm’s Managing Director MA Matin.
On June 18, 2014, a Chittagong court indicted the eight accused, who are now on bail.
The accused are former project manager Gias Uddin, supervising engineer Manjurul Islam, site engineer Abdul Jalil, quality control engineers Shahjahan Ali, Aminur Rahman, and Abdul Hai, Mosharraf Hossain Riaz of Mir Akhter and Parisha Trade Systems, and one Rafiqul Islam. Among them, Rafiqul was not mentioned in the FIR.
Bangladesh Human Rights Foundation (BHRF) Director (Organization) and Chittagong district unit President Zia Habib Ahsan has described the incident as negligent homicide.
“Delay in ensuring justice in the case is behind the recurrence of such incidents. Carrying out construction works without issuing warning, proper supervision, and safety measures cannot but result in fatal accidents,” he said, referring to the recent crane accident that claimed five lives in Dhaka’s Uttara.
“In some dubious construction projects, work orders change hands several times. Sales and exchanges take place under the guise of subcontracts. As a result, the actual contractor is difficult to locate. The tragedy of the Bahaddarhat flyover is a prime example of this,” he said.
Zia Habib alleged that the names of many officials among the authorities concerned had been left out of the charge sheet and the prosecution had failed to produce witnesses in court.
The flyover was finally opened to traffic in 2013, but the authorities had to close down a carriageway following cracks forming on its pillars in 2021.
