Staff Reporter :Journalists on Tuesday demanded of the government to make public the report to be submitted by the committee formed to investigate the tragic road accident that killed senior journalist Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury.They also urged the government for implementing the recommendations of the probe body to ensure road safety.A five-member committee had been formed to investigate the incident on Sunday and it will submit its report within three working days. The journalists came up with the demands after forming a human chain in protest against the death of the journalist, who died in a road crash at Karwan Bazar intersection in Dhaka on Saturday night. Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) organised the human chain around 11:45 am in front of the National Press Club. The programme continued for more than an hour. “We saw many probe reports on road accidents in the past. Those are not made public. This time, we want to know the findings, recommendations and its implementations,” said BFUJ President Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul.The journalists also demanded immediate arrest of the driver of the bus responsible for the death of Zaglul. “We want capital punishment for this reckless driver and others responsible for road crashes,” said BFUJ Secretary General Abdul Jalil Bhuiyan. “A killer gets death penalty for killing a man. So, a driver should be sentenced to death for his reckless driving if anyone dies for his fault,” Jalil Bhuiyan said.DRU President Shakhawat Hossain Badsha said, “If anyone kills a tiger then he will get 10 years jail. So, why the driver will not get capital punishment for his reckless driving?”The High Court on November 20 reinstated the highest punishment for reckless driving to seven years’ imprisonment.Police sources said, 3,000 people die in road accidents on average in the country every year. The World Bank (WB) puts the figure at 12,000 while the World Health Organisation (WHO) says it is 18,000 deaths a year.The police, however, said that 90 percent of the accidents could be attributed to speeding and reckless driving.Zaglul fell on the road when he tried to get off from a bus but the vehicle recklessly pulled away before he could step down, witnesses said. He suffered severe injuries to his head and later succumbed to his injuries.
