Verdict on deaths of students in Jabale Nur bus crash set for Dec 1

A Dhaka court has fixed Dec 1 for the delivery of the verdict on a case over the deaths of two college students in a road crash that triggered widespread protests last year.

Court Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 14 Nov 2019, 04:53 PM
Updated : 14 Nov 2019, 04:53 PM

Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Imrul Kayes set the date after the end of arguments on Thursday.

Two owners, two drivers and two driver’s assistants from Jabale Nur Paribahan have stood trial in connection with the fatal accident involving two buses on Airport Road in Dhaka on July 29 last year.

Among the six, bus owner Jahangir Alam, drivers Masum Billah and Jubayer Sumon, and a driver’s assistant Enayet Hossain are behind bars.

Another bus owner Md Shahadat Hossain Akondo is out on bail and has a High Court order in his favour halting the case procedure against him.

Md Asad Kazi, the assistant of another driver, is on the run.

The court scrapped their appeal for acquittal and formed charges under the Penal Code.

The accused may get a maximum punishment of a life-term, if proven guilty of culpable homicide and three years in jail if proven guilty of causing deaths by reckless driving.

The two buses raced each other as they barrelled down from Kalshi flyover when one of them ran over the students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College waiting for transport on the Airport Road.

Dia Khanom Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib died on the spot while several others were injured.

The accident triggered an unprecedented student protest, bringing Dhaka traffic to a standstill for a week. The government assured the students of fulfilling their demands to get the students off the streets.

Dia’s father Jahangir Alam, a bus driver, filed a case with the Cantonment Police Station on the same day the accident occurred.

Inspector Kazi Shariful Islam pressed charges against the six accused in the case on Sep 6. The charge-sheet named 41 witnesses.