Today, 11 years after the Rana Plaza tragedy, progress in justice is minimal

Silk City News Desk

Today marks 11 years of Rana Plaza collapse in Savar. On April 24, 2013, the eight-story building collapsed, killing more than 11 hundred garment workers. It is one of the worst industrial accidents in the history of the world. Although a long time has passed, little progress has been made in the trial of three cases including the murder case filed in this accident. Among the other two cases, one under the Building Construction Act was filed by RAJUK and the other by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) alleging corruption in construction.

Meanwhile, various labor organizations have taken various programs to realize the rights of workers around this day. Relatives of the injured workers are disappointed as the trial has not ended even after more than a decade.

It can be seen from the documents that the investigation of the murder case took two years. There was a delay in completing the investigation due to the non-approval of 6 government officials as accused in the charge sheet. Public Administration and Labor Ministry argued against their charge sheeting – those who have not committed major crimes, will not be allowed to charge sheet them. However, despite not getting approval, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) filed a charge sheet against them. After that, the trial of the case was ordered after another year. Soon after the order, seven accused moved the High Court challenging it. The proceedings of the case were stopped for almost five years due to the suspension of the proceedings from the High Court.

Subsequently, when the suspension order was revoked in favor of the six persons, Dhaka District and Sessions Judge AHM Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan started taking testimony on January 31, 2022. He has completed the testimony of 83 of the 594 witnesses in the case during this period. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 28.

About the progress of the trial of the murder case, Public Counsel (PP) of the District and Sessions Judge Court of Dhaka Bimal Samaddar said that the trial was stopped for almost 5 years due to the stay order of the court. Then the testimony began. Now the testimony of witness number 84 is going on. He said that the main accused in the case is Sohel Rana on April 6 last year

He got bail from the High Court. However, the Appellate Division suspended the bail on January 15 and ordered the trial court to settle the case within 6 months. Accordingly, efforts are being made to settle the case.

Of the 42 accused in the three cases, only Sohail Rana, the owner of the building, is in jail. Among others, 7 absconders, 32 bailees and 2 convicts died.

Meanwhile, on August 28, 2017, in a case filed against Sohail Rana for not submitting the assets account, he was sentenced to three years in prison. An Arms Act case and 11 other cases filed by workers in the Labor Court are reportedly pending against him. Apart from this, Sohel Rana’s mother, Mosa, was arrested on March 29 last year in the case of illegal wealth acquisition and information concealment. Morjina Begum has been imprisoned for 6 years.

Rajuk’s Building Construction Act case

On April 25, 2013, the Rana Plaza building was constructed without complying with the Building Construction Act. Helal Uddin filed a case against 13 people in Savar police station. In that case too, the same CID officer filed a separate charge sheet on June 1, 2015 along with the murder case. 18 people including building owner Sohel Rana were accused in the charge sheet. 17 of them are accused in the murder case.

After framing of charge, 3 accused filed 3 separate revision cases seeking quashing of charge order. Of these, 2 have been dismissed, but one is still pending, so testimony is closed.

Corruption case in construction of ACC building

ACC filed a case on June 15, 2013 at Savar Police Station under Section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and Section 109 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, for committing corruption by constructing a six-storey building despite the permission to construct a six-storey building. Regarding this case, ACC prosecutor Mosharf Hossain Kajol said that the taking of testimony in the case is ongoing. Hopefully, we can finish the trial of the case quickly with the testimony of other witnesses.

Location of accused in three cases

There were 42 accused in three cases. Only the building owner Sohel Rana is in jail. 2 Accused Abu Bakar Siddique and Md. Abul Hasan passed away.

7 accused are still absconding. They are former assistant engineer of Savar municipality Mahbubur Rahman, city planner of Savar municipality Farzana Islam, Nantu contractor, Manowar Hossain Biplab, Rezaul Islam, Nayan Mia and Safiqul Islam.

32 accused are on bail. They are – Rafiqul Islam, Md. Sarwar Kamal, Md. Awlad Hossain, Abdul Khalek alias Kulu Khalek and Morjina Begum (Sohail Rana’s parents), Alhaj Refat Ullah, Mohammad Ali Khan, Rakibul Hasan Russell, Bajlus Samad Adnan, Mahmudur Rahman Tapas, Anisur Rahman alias Anisuzzaman, Aminul Islam, Md. Madhu, Anil Das, Md. Shah Alam alias Mithu, Uttam Kumar Roy, Md. Abdus Samad, Belayet Hossain, Md. Yusuf Ali, Md. Mohidul Islam, Jannatul Ferdous, Manowar Hossain Biplab, Md. Ataur Rahman, Md. Abdus Salam, Vidyut Mia, Syed Shafiqul Islam Johnny, Md. Abdul Hamid, Abdul Majid, Md. Aminul Islam, Md. Yusuf Ali and Mahbul Alam.

Incidentally, after the Rana Plaza collapse, 1,117 bodies were recovered. 19 people died while undergoing treatment in the hospital. Another 1 thousand 170 people were injured. Among them, 78 people have received paralysis.

Mourners still search for memories of loved ones

Thousands of people who are grieving the loss of relatives still find memories of their loved ones at the accident site. On the one hand, the heart is sad, on the other hand, many people are suffering from the pain of not getting justice.

Ferdousi Begum, 64, of Joypurhat is still searching for her son who was lost in the Rana Plaza tragedy. He searched for his son for 10 years. My son Mahidul Islam used to work on the fifth floor of Rana Plaza. Will I never get my lost Manik?’ This tearful old woman asked the question.

Rupali Akhter, who survived the collapse of Rana Plaza, said, ‘Blood breath for 17 hours, I don’t know how I survived. When I was rescued, I still did not believe that I would return alive. The fear and terror of that tragic day still haunts me.’

Talked with Taslima Akhtar, president of Garment Workers Solidarity. He said, April 24 comes around the year. But we don’t get justice. Even after 11 years of this one of the tragedies in the history of the garment industry, the workers have not yet received their justice. Their fair demands were not met – it is a pain for us.

Like every year around the day of Rana Plaza tragedy, various labor organizations have announced various programs with other demands to ensure the punishment of those involved in the incident, rehabilitation of the affected workers and their families, change in the law for compensation of the injured and others. These include tributes to the injured workers at the accident site, protest rallies, drawing of children, discussion meetings etc.