Court Correspondent :
Two drivers and a helper of two buses of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan were sentenced to life term imprisonment on Sunday in a case filed over the fatal road accident that killed two students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College on the Airport Road of Dhaka last year.
Judge KM Emrul Kayes of Dhaka’s Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court delivered the verdict in his crowded courtroom. The convicted drivers Masum Billah and Zobair Hossain Sumon were present in the court. Another convict Kazi Asad, helper of one of the two buses, is still on the run. The court also fined the convicts Tk 50,000 each, in default, they will have to suffer six months more in the prison.
The court acquitted bus owner Jahangir Alam and other helper Enayet Hossain.
On July 29, two students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College. Abdul Karim Rajib, 18, and Dia Khanam Mim, 17, first year students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College, were run over and killed while nine others were injured during a race between two buses of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan. The buses ploughed through the students in front of Kurmitola General Hospital on July 29 of last year.
Victim student Dia’s father Jahangir Alam Fakir filed a case with Dhaka Cantonment Police Station in connection with the killing on the same day. Kazi Shariful Islam, Investigation Officer of the case and Inspector of Detectives, submitted the charge-sheet of the case to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court of Dhaka on September 6, last year.
The drivers, helpers and owners of two Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan buses were made accused in the case.
On November 14, the court set December 1, to deliver the verdict on completion of submission of arguments from the prosecution and defense.
However, a High Court Division bench stayed the trial proceedings against another bus owner Shahdat Hossain, now on bail, on November 7 last year.
On September 6, last year, Inspector Kazi Shariful Islam of Detective Branch of police submitted the charge-sheet of the case to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Dhaka against the accused while on October 22, of that year, the court accepted the charge-sheet.
Later, the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court of Dhaka framed charges against the six accused on October 25, last year and the trial began on November 1. Of the 41 witnesses, 37 testified in the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court in the case.
Family unhappy
Meanwhile, the family of victim Dia Khanom Mim, who was run over and killed by Jabale Nur Paribahan bus, expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict of the court that sentenced the convicts for life-term imprisonment. They urged the state prosecutors to appeal to the apex court seeking death penalty for driver Masum Billah and Zobair Hossain Sumon. It may be remembered that the fatal road accident triggered an unprecedented student protest with call for safer roads.
While talking about the verdict, Dia’s uncle Selim Hossain said, “The driver should be hanged. He was driving without licence.”
“The vehicle also lacked necessary registration document.”
Dia’s father Jahangir Alam, a bus driver, decided to stop driving bus after Dia’s death.
