Fire service responders douse flames at Old Dhaka court

Authorities will investigate whether the fire was caused intentionally by someone

Fire Service and Civil Defence personnel have tamed the blaze at the Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court in the old quarters of the capital in an hourlong effort.

Authorities are taking steps to form a committee to look into the cause of the fire.

The basement of the building caught fire around 1:15 pm on Tuesday.

Court proceedings were underway when the fire broke out. Gripped by fear, the judges, lawyers and justice-seekers moved to a safer location.

Five units of the fire service rushed to the location to douse the fire and brought things under control around 2:15 pm, said state lawyer Anwarul Kabir.

Fire service authorities said no one was hurt in the incident.

Advocate Anwarul said the storage caught fire but the damage was yet to be determined. The warehouse contains evidence from different cases.

Anwarul, however, assured that losing the evidence would not severely hurt a case. “It’s possible to settle a case if it contains other elements apart from evidence, though sometimes evidence takes priority.”

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Md Rezaul Karim, a director of the fire service, also arrived at the scene.

“We will form a five-member committee to scope out the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage,” he said.

Earlier Md Rafiqul Islam, the library secretary of the Dhaka Bar Association who witnessed the incident, said the blaze might have originated from an electric short circuit.

Authorities will also look into whether the incident was motivated by malintent.