Justice remains elusive for the victims of a fire at Tazreen Fashions in Ashulia that killed 120 and injured more than 150 seven years ago.
The owners and factory management stand accused of not letting the workers leave when the fire started on Nov 24, 2012.
Seven-years into the biggest fire in the ready-made garments sector, the relatives and survivors are yet to receive justice due to delayed court proceedings.
Merely eight out of the 104 witnesses have testified so far since the trial took-off case four years ago. Moreover, no witness appeared before Dhaka Additional District and Sessions Judge Court in the last two years.
According to the prosecution, the police are unable to trace the witnesses in their present addresses and court summons are not reaching the permanent addresses of many.
“This case is very important. The investigation officer in the charge sheet has given present addresses of most of the witnesses, where they are not living now,” Additional Public Prosecutor Murshid Uddin Khan told BSS.
He said that those who have their permanent addresses listed are not receiving the summons and the law enforcers are not arresting witnesses who have warrants against them that are not bail-able.
Meanwhile, defence counsel ATM Golam Gaus said that the case has remained stalled due to the absence of witnesses whose presence was the prosecution’s responsibility to ensure.
“We want the case to be disposed of as quickly as possible as we are suffering the most for the stalemate of the trial proceedings,” he said before adding that his clients are unable to leave the country of run their businesses.
On Dec 2, 2013, thirteen months after the fire, police charged 13 with culpable negligence under Section 304 and 304 (a) of the Bangladesh Penal Code.
The trial took off in Sept 2015 after Dhaka District and Sessions Judge SM Quddus Zaman indicted Tazreen Fashions’ Managing Director Delwar Hossain, Chairperson Mahmuda Akter and 11 others.
The rest of the accused are the factory’s- loader Shamim Miah, store in-charge Al Amin, security in-charge Anisur Rahman, security supervisor Al Amin, store in-charge Hamidul Islam Lavlu, administration officer Dulal Uddin, engineer M Mahbubul Morshed, security guard Rana alias Anwrul, factory manager Abdur Razzak, production managers Mobarak Hossain Monju and Shahiduzzaman Dulal.
Of the accused, Dulal, Monju, Rana, Al Amin and Shamim are yet to be arrested.
Few months into the Tazreen Fire incident, the multi-storied Rana Plaza collapsed in Savar killing more than 1,000 garment workers which triggered widespread criticism across the globe over the condition of workers' safety at garment factories in Bangladesh.