Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Wednesday issued a rule upon the government to explain as to why it should not be directed to pay Tk three crore as compensation to the family of Titash Ghosh, who died in an ambulance on a ferry while coming to Dhaka on July 25.
The court also directed the Public Administration Secretary for appointing an officer, not below the rank of Additional Secretary, to conduct an enquiry into the incident and submit the report in this court in three weeks.
The HC bench of Justice F R M Nazmul Ahasan and Justice K M Kamrul Kader passed the order and issued the rule after hearing a writ petition filed by a rights organization, Legal Support and People’s Rights, seeking necessary order.
On Tuesday, the rights body filed the writ petition with the HC seeking its directives to the government to pay Tk three crore as compensation to the family of Titash.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the court remarked that only the President and the Prime Minister are the most important persons (VVIP) in the country.
About the VIP whose name came up in connection with this death incident, the HC said, “They are not VIP (very important person), they are the servants of the republic. There is a security issue in the case of the President and the Prime Minister. So, that has to be considered.”
Thirteen-year old Titash Ghosh, a student of Kalia Pilot Secondary School in Narail, was critically injured in a motorbike accident in the district on July 24.
A day later, doctors of a local hospital referred him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for an emergency operation.
The family, along with the 13-year-old boy, was traveling to Dhaka by an ambulance, which arrived at the Kathalbari Ferry Terminal in Munshiganj around 8:00 pm on July 25.
A ferry called “Ferry Cumilla” was reportedly already on the pontoon, which had its gate closed and was not loading vehicles.
The family said that the ferry, on which the ambulance carrying Titash was on, delayed loading vehicles for three hours while waiting for a Joint Secretary.
Ferry authorities said they were waiting for the arrival of Md Abdus Sabur Mondal, the Head of Digital Service and Public Service Innovation Cluster and E-Service Implementation Specialist of the Access to Information (a2i) Programme at the Prime Minister’s Office.
The ambulance was stuck on the pontoon and could not reverse or shift to another because of the queues of vehicles in front and behind it.
The ferry started loading vehicles around 10:20 pm when the authorities learnt that the high official was close to the terminal.
Around 11:00 pm, the official arrived and the ferry started sailing. Titash died on the ferry, family sources said.
Advocate Jahir Uddin Limon, Chairman of Legal Support and People’s Right, appeared in the court on behalf of the writ petition, while Deputy Attorney General Abdullah Al Mahmud Bashar stood for the State.