Prothom Alo editor faces case over student’s death from electrocution

A case has been filed against the editor of the Prothom Alo, Matiur Rahman, over the death of Dhaka Residential Model College student Nayeemul Abrar Rahat, who was electrocuted during an event organised by the newspaper’s youth magazine Kishor Alo on the school campus.

Rahat’s father Md Mujibur Rahman filed the case with Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court on Wednesday alleging that negligence on part of the organisers caused his son's death.

The court also ordered an autopsy for Rahat.

Mujibur had earlier filed a case of unnatural death over the incident on Nov 1 and the court ordered Mohammadpur police to complete the investigation into both complaints by Dec 1.

Rahat, 15, a nonresident student of class nine, received electric shock from a power generator set up behind a stage erected for 'Ki Ananda' -- an event organised by Kishor Alo, a magazine published by Matiur Rahman.

Rahat, who hails from Noakhali, lived with his family at the capital's Agargaon.

After the incident, he was taken to the Universal Medical College Hospital in Mohakhali where doctors pronounced him dead.

The case also implicates the organisers of the programme without naming them.

It alleges that the organisers went ahead with the event without properly managing and securing the power supply.

After Rahat was electrocuted, he was taken all the way to a hospital in Mohakhali when the Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital was on the opposite side of the road past the campus.

"I wasn't notified of the incident by the authorities. Instead, I came to know about my son's death from his friends and classmates. He was electrocuted at about 3pm. He was admitted to Universal Medical College Hospital at 4:15pm and pronounced dead at 4:51pm,” Mujibur said.

“I was pressured into accepting that the incident was a tragic accident. Mohammadpur police recorded an unnatural death case without conducting an autopsy.”

Mujibur claims he was 'misled' into accepting the body of his son without a post-mortem examination.

“The incident on Nov 1 was not an accident or unnatural death. It was the result of extreme negligence and mismanagement by the organisers and negligent medical treatment,” said Mohammad Omar Faruk Asif, lawyer for the plaintiff.