Father of deceased Nayeemul Abrar, a ninth grader of Dhaka Residential Model College (DRMC) filed a case against Motiur Rahman, editor and publisher of the daily Prothom Alo, over the tragic death. Abrar’s father, Md Mojibur Rahman, filed the case with the court of Dhaka additional metropolitan magistrate Aminul Haque on Wednesday afternoon.
Nayeemul died after he was electrocuted at a cultural function titled “Ki Ananda”, organized by the daily Prothom Alo’s magazine for juveniles, Kishor Alo, on November 1. Talking to the journalists, Advocate Omar Faruk Asif, plaintiff’s lawyer said, “The court asked to exhume the body of Rahat from the grave and conduct autopsy to probe the case alongside the earlier case of unnatural death and ordered Mohammadpur Police Station to submit probe report on December 1.”
Rahat’s father, in his plea, blamed negligence of the organisers for the death of his son. Earlier on Tuesday, police grilled Anisul Hoque, associate editor of popular Bangla daily Prothom Alo who is also editor of Kishor Alo. It is alleged that the high voltage electric cables used for lighting and sound boxes for Kishor Alo’s stage performances, were not checked and properly insulated to protect from exposure.
Even worse, when Abrar suffered serious electric shocks and required emergency medical attention, the organisers, instead of seeking emergency care at the state owned full-fledged general hospital just a few minute away opposite the road from the place of the incident, took him to a distant private hospital called Universal Medical College Hospital in Mohakhali, where doctors declared him dead.
Universal Medical College Hospital authority mentioned that Nayeemul had already expired before he had arrived at the hospital. On the other side, Prothom Alo authority, in spite of the DRMC students’ demand and deadline, did not release and disclose the CCTV footage of the tragic death of Nayeemul Abrar.
On Saturday, DRMC students formed a human chain in the city and demanded the Prothom Alo authority to release the security camera footage within 72 hours. Till filing of this report at around 7:30 pm Wednesday, Prothom Alo did not respond to the demand. On Monday, a legal notice was served on the Prothom Alo and Kishor Alo editors seeking Tk. 10 crore in compensation for the death of Nayeemul.
Following massive student protests, the college authorities had also formed a three-member committee to probe into the tragic death. The committee will submit its report within seven days. DRMC students blamed the mismanagement and negligence of the Prothom Alo authorities for Nayeemul’s death. They also questioned the decisions to continue the live function even after the tragic incident.
