HC asks Etihad to hand over footage

The High Court yesterday directed authorities concerned of Etihad Airways to hand over the video footage containing the alleged incident of harassing and torturing two Bangladesh-born women at Abu Dhabi International Airport in June 2011 to the inquiry committee of Bangladesh foreign ministry in the next 15 days.

On June 28, the women -- en route to Canada by an Etihad Airways flight, were allegedly harassed by the airline staff at Abu Dhabi International Airport, and were forced back to Dhaka at their own cost over a brawl that sparked due to a fault of a staffer.

The HC also asked the inquiry committee of the foreign ministry to submit the probe report before it in one month after getting the video footage from the airline, and fixed March 6 for passing further order on this issue.

The HC bench of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil passed the order while hearing a writ petition filed by Tanzeen Bristy, one of the victims, in July 2011 -- seeking its order for compensation and legal action against Etihad Airways for their harassment.

Petitioner's counsel Advocate Manzill Murshid told The Daily Star that the HC passed the order yesterday as Etihad Airways recently submitted a report to it through a lawyer claiming that they (Etihad Airways) had no fault in the incident; rather the passengers including the writ petitioner were unruly in the occurrence on June 28, 2011.

Deputy Attorney General Mokhlesur Rahman told this correspondent that the inquiry committee formed by the foreign ministry is proceeding with the probe and needs time to complete it.

Following the same writ petition, the HC on July 14, 2011 issued a rule asking authorities of Etihad Airways to explain why they should not be directed to pay compensation to the victims and why appropriate action should not be taken against them.