A judge can now award life imprisonment to Sohel Rana, owner of the Rana Plaza in Savar, if he is found guilty of allowing garment owners to run their factories even after a crack developed in the building.
The factory owners will also face similar punishment if charges of forcing workers to join the work are proved.
At least 371 people have been killed after the nine-story building collapsed on Wednesday.
A Dhaka court on Sunday allowed police to include more sections of the existing law into the case filed against Rana and five factory owners over the collapse.
Asked about minimum punishment for leading the death of 371 workers, advocate ABM Sharfuddin Khan Mukul, an expert on criminal law, told The Daily Star on Sunday that the investigation officer can bring charges of killing in the charge sheet against the building and factory owners.
Earlier, police filed the case under sections 337 (six months), 337 (two years) and 304 (A) (five years) of the Penal Code that allowed the trial court to punish an accused to five years in connection with the case filed after Rana Plaza came crashing down on Wednesday.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Wasim Sheikh passed the order when Investigation Officer Kaiser Matobber appealed to the judge to allow six sections to be included in the case.
The sections are: 323 section (one year), 324 (three years), 325 (seven years), 326, 307(ten years) and 304 (life term-30 years).
The magistrate meanwhile placed Aminul Islam, owner of Phantom Apparels Ltd and Phantom Tac Ltd which was in the collapsed nine-storey Rana Plaza, on a 11-day remand in the two cases.
Kaiser Matobber, also a sub-inspector of Savar Police Station, produced Aminul before the court and appealed for taking him on a 14-day remand to quiz for further investigation in the cases.
Earlier on Saturday, Detective Branch of police arrested Aminul in Ramna area in Dhaka.
Meantime, four more arrestees including two garments owners were placed on different terms of remand in the same cases.
Source: The Daily Star
