HC moved for owners’ arrest

The High Court was moved on Tuesday to order authorities to arrest owners of the two readymade garment factories where fire incidents left at least 118 people dead in two months.

Supreme Court lawyer Yunus Ali Akand in the petition also sought orders for adequate compensation to families of the fire victims.

The petitioner said the bench of Justices AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury and Mahmudul Hoque might hear the plea on Wednesday.

The petition has sought orders for arrest of the owner of Tazreen Fashions and three directors of Smart Fashions ‘within 24 hours’ and payment of compensations to the families ‘within 72 hours’.

It expects rules on the Labour and Employment Secretary, Inspector General of Police, Dhaka Deputy Commissioner, Ashulia and Mohammadpur Police Station Officers-in-charge, Smart Fashions Directors Md. Sharif Ahmed, Zakir Hossain and Sri Shubhash, Tazreen Fashions owner Delwar Hossain and BGMEA.

Seven female workers died on Saturday from suffocation and stampede following a fire that broke out in the two-storied factory of Smart Fashions in Mohammadpur’s Beribandh area in the capital.

On Nov 24, at least 111 workers died in a deadly blaze in Tazreen Fashions factory in Ashulia on the outskirts of Dhaka city.

A case has been filed against the Smart Fashions directors by the father of a worker who died in the blaze.

Over Tazreen Fashions incident, a probe committee formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs recommended lodging a case against the factory owner. However, Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir later said arrest of the owner would bear no fruit.