Rana Plaza trial stuck in limbo after five years

DOT Desk
Prosecutor refuses allegations of negligence and blames the delay on ‘legal complexities’, reports he Dhaka Tribune.
Legal complexities are being blamed for the failure to begin the trials in two cases filed over the Rana Plaza building collapse, over five years after 1,136 people died and thousands more were injured in the country’s worst industrial accident.
Two cases were filed over the incident in Savar in April 2013, but even two years after the charge framing, the trial is stuck in limbo due to numerous legal obstacles. Prosecutors have blamed the delay on the submission of police reports on the deaths of two accused, and petitions filed by a number of accused challenging the trial court indictment orders again them. “The delayed submission of death reports of two accused, and petitions filed by several accused in a higher court, is the reason for the setback in trial,” Public Prosecutor Khandaker Abdul Mannan Khan told the Dhaka Tribune. “The trial cannot move forward unless these two issues are resolved,” he said.
Acknowledging these issues, Additional Public Prosecutor Anwarul Kabir Babul said: “We are optimistic that the legal complexities for resuming these trials will soon end.
“If the trial proceedings of these cases are stuck in limbo for years, victims of this tragic incident will not get justice in due time,” he said.
‘Murder, not culpable homicide’
The nine-storey Rana Plaza building had housed five clothing factories, a shopping mall and a bank. On April 24, 2013 it came crashing down, leaving at least 1,136 people dead and around 2,000 others injured.
On June 1, 2015, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police submitted two charge sheets against 42 people including Sohel Rana: one over killing 1,136 people and injuring over 2000 others, and the other over violating the building code.
In June 2016, Dhaka Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court framed charges against 18 accused, including Rana Plaza owner Sohel Rana, in a case filed over violations of the building code in the construction of Rana Plaza.
It is claimed four additional floors were constructed on top of the original five-storey building with substandard materials. The building also had “significant structural flaws”.
In another case filed one month later, Dhaka District and Sessions Judge Court framed charges against 42 accused, including Rana and his parents, for the murder of all those who died when the building came down.
According to the second charge sheets, the CID found that Sohel Rana and the management of the five factories had forced workers to enter the building against their will, even though the building had developed major cracks a day before the collapse.
For this reason, charges of murder, instead of culpable homicide, were brought against the 42 accused.
Of the accused, only Rana is presently in jail, while most of the others are walking free after securing bail from different courts.
Slow progress
While both trials were scheduled to start by September 2016, neither has progressed any further in the past two years.
Lawyers involved with these cases told the Dhaka Tribune that complex legal obstacles have prevented the courts from starting to record the testimony of witnesses, even though they have been appearing before the judges.
There are allegations that the prosecutors are not acting sincerely to start the recording of witnesses’ depositions.
Numerous hearings have been scheduled by the courts to move the trial forward, but the petitions filed by prosecutors and defense lawyers have prevented any headway from being made.
According to court officials, the Dhaka District and Sessions Judge Court could not resume the murder trial due to delays in filing the death reports of two accused who had since died.
Abul Hossain died in August 2017 and Abu Bakar Siddique in September 2016, but police did not submit their death reports before the court until April 19, 2018.
A number of the other accused – including Rafayet Ullah, Mohammad Ali Khan, Shahidul Islam and Yusuf Ali – had submitted petitions with a higher court, challenging the indictment orders against them. The trial courts cannot start the trial until those petitions are resolved.
When asked, Rana’s counsel Md Faruk Ahmed blamed the prosecution lawyers for the delay in moving the trial forward in the two cases.