Staff Reporter :
Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan on Wednesday visited the residence of Diya Khanam Mim – one of the victims whose road crash death sparked outrage – and met her father Jahangir Fakir. He begged apology to the victim’s family.
“It was my mistake, please see my actions in forgiving eyes,” Minister Shahjahan Khan quoted.
Minister Shahjahan visited their residence at Mohakhali around 6:00pm. Accompanying him was general secretary of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Sramik Federation Osman Ali and others.They stayed 15 minutes and offered their condolences.
Diya’s father told the minister that his daughter died because of an amateur driver. He begged that no other father bear the burden of their child’s untimely death in road crashes.
Jahangir said, the minister assured him justice would be served as the culprits have already been detained by the police. He also said that mobile courts are working to ensure no vehicles could run on the road without license and fitness.
Jahangir also asked the minister not to inflict any torture on the students who are protesting for justice as he has come across such news of torture from the media.
The minister said in reply that it has already been ordered to the law enforcers that no student should be harmed.
The principal of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College also visited the house of the victim before the minister at 5:00pm on Wednesday to offer condolences to Dia’s family.
Why Shajahan under fire
Shahjahan Khan is known to be an influential transport leader who has had, multiple times on previous occasions, carried out movement from staying inside the government.
He is especially popular among the transport workers.
On Sunday, a bus of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan ploughed into a crowd waiting for transport near the Airport Road flyover ramp in the city’s Kurmitola, killing two college students and injuring at least nine others.
Shajahan, also the executive president of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, apparently tried to downplay the incident that day.
When reporters asked him about the deaths caused by an unhealthy competition between two buses, the minister grinned and threw a counter question at them.
“A road crash has claimed 33 lives in India’s Maharashtra; but do they talk about it like the way we do?”
This caused uproar among people as many expressed their anger on social media.
