Mitoon Chowdhury
bdnews24.com Correspondent
Chittagong, Dec 8 (bdnews24.com) — Five-year jail term does not match the gravity of crime of the Mirsarai tragedy case driver, feel the teachers and parents of the victim students, as also the plaintiff.
"Such a little punishment for killing so many innocent people is too less. But, of course, one satisfaction is there that the accused has been brought to justice fast," said Kabir Ahmed Nizami, the plaintiff in the, after the driver of the truck carrying the victims was sentenced to five years in prison by a city court on Thursday.
In one of the worst tragedies in Bangladesh's history, 43 schoolboys and two others had died in the Mirsarai accident when the truck carrying them back from a football match skidded off the road due to negligent driving.
The accident occurred on the link road between Abu Toarb Bazar and Borotakia in Mirsarai upazila of Chittagong on July 11.
"I also wanted the trial within the ambit of law...but the existing law itself is very weak," Mayani union council chairman Nizami told bdnews24.com.
The Chittagong court sentenced Mofiz Uddin, the driver, to five years' rigorous imprisonment. He turned out to be a helper and not a driver, and was driving the ill-fated vehicle without a proper licence. Students, who survived the accident, alleged that he was talking over mobile phone when the accident took place.
Jahir Uddin, the father of victim Tofazzal Hossain, a sixth-grader of the school, expressed his ire over the 'weakness' of the law.
"I knew that drivers don't have to serve more than five or seven years in prison," he said.
"Many people of the country had to face shoes during demonstrations demanding rectification [of the law]. Ilias Kanchan had been awarded a garland of shoes at a rally where minister Shahjahan Khan was also present…he is part of the government."
"What will happen to commoners like us if we raise voice," Jahir wondered.
Headmaster of the school Jafar Sadeque, who cried for days after the accident, said, "The entire country was in grief after the accident. Everyone will say it's a little punishment. I know…existing laws have limitations."
Jafar demanded stiffer laws. He, however, expressed satisfaction over the fast trial.
Ninth-grader victim Abu Sufian's father Mohammad Abu Ridwan thinks that people will be more respectful to laws following the punishment.
"We're overwhelmed with grief, lost everything. My damage can't be compensated, even if the driver is hanged," he said.
"I am satisfied over the pace of trial. I know that there can't be more punishment under the existing law…it should be made stiffer," he added.
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