Tragic Death of Jihad: All accused acquitted
The High Court today acquitted four people, who were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment by a lower court in the case filed over death of four-year-old Jihad.
Jihad died after he fell into a deep abandoned shaft in Dhaka's Shahjahanpur seven years back.
The incident happened when he was playing with other children near Shahjahanpur Railway Colony on December 26, 2014.
His body was pulled out by a group of volunteers the following day, shortly after government agencies called off the rescue bid, saying there was no sign of the boy inside the well.
Jihad's father Mohammad Nasir Uddin filed a case with Shahjahanpur Police Station the next day.
On February 26, 2017, a Dhaka court sentenced four people, including three engineers of Bangladesh Railway, to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment in the case as it found them guilty of "gross-negligence and reluctance in discharging their duties", leading to the death.
The four are Abdus Salam alias Shafiqul Islam, proprietor of SR House, a contractor firm that was implementing a railway project in the area; Jahangir Alam, senior sub-assistant engineer; and Zafar Ahmed and Nasir Uddin, assistant engineers of Bangladesh Railway.
Today, the High Court bench of Justice Md Ruhul Quddus and Justice ASM Abdul Mobin acquitted them of the charges after hearing four separate appeals filed by the accused challenging the trial court verdict.
Details of the grounds and observations on which the HC delivered the verdict could not be known as the full text of the verdict was not released today.
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