HC releases full text of verdict ordering BIWTA, launch owners' assoc to compensate victims

The High Court yesterday released the full text of its verdict that ordered Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and a launch owners' association concerned to give Tk 17.11 crore in compensation to the victim families of a launch accident in the Meghna in July 2003.

The family of a deceased will get Tk 10 lakh and an injured victim will get Tk 1 lakh, according to the HC ruling.

The launch, MV Nasrin-1, capsized on July 8, 2003 at the confluence of the Padma, Meghna and Dakatia in Chandpur leaving 110 people dead, about 200 missing, and many others injured, according to a government investigation report.

The triple-decker vessel was on its way to Bhola from Dhaka with about 700 passengers on board. The launch owner died in the accident.

The investigation report said the launch was unfit but the BIWTA allowed it to operate and was overloaded because it was capable of carrying 500 passengers.

On June 5 last year, the HC upheld a lower court verdict that ordered BIWTA and a launch owners' association to give Tk 17.11 crore in compensation to the victim families of the launch accident.

On that day (June 5, last year), the bench of Justice Syed MdZiaul Karim and Justice Sheikh MdZakir Hossain came up with the verdict after rejecting a revision petition filed by the BIWTA against the trial court verdict.

Following the accident, the deputy commissioner of Chandpur published a list of 400 people who were affected by the incident.

Following the list, the shipping and disaster trustee board gave Tk 15,000 to Tk 20,000 to the deceased's and injured persons' families as compensation.

In 2004, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) on behalf of the victims filed a case with the Third Joint District Judges’ Court of Dhaka claiming that the compensation was not adequate. More than Tk 28.93 crore was demanded in the case, where the number of the deceased was mentioned as 171.

The case was sent to the Seventh Joint District Judge’s Court in 2012, and the court gave a verdict on February 2, 2016.

In the verdict, the court ordered the government to give Tk 17.11 crore to the families of the affected people -- 170 deceased and one injured -- within 60 days. On October 24, 2016, BIWTA and the defendant filed a revision petition with the HC against the verdict.