‘Rana deserves life term’

A government enquiry committee has recommended life terms for the owners of the collapsed Savar building Mohammad Sohel Rana and the five readymade garment factories it housed.

The investigative panel in a report also recommended confiscation of the plot of land on which the nine-storey building was constructed and financial support to the families of the workers who died and to the injured.

The committee formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs headed by Additional Secretary Mainuddin Khandker submitted the 400-page report to the Secretary on Wednesday.

Rapid Action Battalion arrests Mohammad Sohel Rana, owner of collapsed multistory commercial bloc Rana Plaza in Savar, from Benapole and brings him to its headquarters in Dhaka on Sunday.

Rapid Action Battalion arrests Mohammad Sohel Rana, owner of collapsed multistory commercial bloc Rana Plaza in Savar, from Benapole and brings him to its headquarters in Dhaka on Sunday.

After submitting the report, he said the ‘maximum’ punishment or the imprisonment for 10 years or fine or both for the owners have been proposed under Section 304 of the Bangladesh Penal Code.

He told reporters that the panel identified five causes that led to the collapse claiming more than 1100 lives.

“Based on the findings, we made seven observations and 12 recommendations in the report,” he said. “We believe immediate steps should be taken over three issues highlighted in the report.”

The committee chief had earlier told bdnews24.com that he was expecting a life sentence for Rana.

On Wednesday he said the report also proposed taking action against the local Mayor, Councillor, engineers and others, involved directly or indirectly with the world’s deadliest building collapse.

Recent media reports say the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has proposed a new shopping mall on the Rana Plaza’s land to allocate shops to the families of deceased as compensation.

The home ministry committee also proposed forming a department exclusively for the readymade units under the Ministry of Labour and Employment to avoid a repeat of such incidents.

Authorities called off the rescue operation at the collapse site on May 13 after the building came crushing down on the morning of April 24. As per government data, a total of 1130 people were killed in the collapse.

The six-member committee was formed immediately after the building cave in on Apr 24.

Source: Bd news24

3 COMMENTS

  1. How can an investigating officer (a govt. beauracrat) recommend what punishment this killer of 1200 known people should get? Shouldn’t this be the job of a court? I think he should be hanged. Amend the constitution, if necessary. Come on ‘Kujonmo Chottor’ where are you? I need some support from you guys.

  2. This is simply an eyewash. The godfather providing thick umbrellas on the Plaza owner has been sent out of notice. This is how the govts, much more openly the present one, shelter the criminals under their political canopy and save them from the clutches of law while crying hoarse ‘law will take its own course’, ‘no one is above law’ bla ba bla. The ever increasing hypocrisy of the consecutive govts have brought this unfortunate country and the nation to this pass where ‘the message of justice cry in wilderness’. This is the true color of our democracy (?) and ‘rule of law (or lawlessness?).

  3. Democracy? What is democracy when it has been turned into nothing more than mere hypocracy? Look around the globe and you will find nothing but hypocracy at its height in the name of democracy. To day, the world champions of democracy – America and the West, the so called “civilised world” – are engaged in acts of wanton lawlessness across the globe, aided and abetted by each other, holding the entire humanity hostage and at their mercy and Bangladesh is no exception. What we are witnessing is the beginning of the inevitable end of this system like all other human made systems of the past. Let’s forget democracy and get back to the system that our created had given us. We humans have been roaming around lost in the dark wilderness far too long. Its time to get back on the right path.

Comments are closed.