2 of 4 victims know of no 'agreement'

Two of the four victims of last week's Gulshan car crash have expressed complete ignorance of an agreement that, according to police, was reached between the underage driver's family and the victims.

Police have been claiming that the injured and the driver's family have agreed that the victims would not seek legal redress as long as the medical costs are borne by the driver's family.

Gulshan Police Station Officer-in-Charge Sirajul Islam even showed this correspondent a copy of the agreement at his office on Sunday.

However, Lisa Dibra, an indigenous woman, one of the four injured, expressed surprised when she was told about the agreement.

“There is no question of signing any such thing. Parts of my body are still aching ... I suffered tooth injuries as I fell on the pavement,” she said.

When this correspondent told her that her name was on the agreement, she said someone else had put her name there.

On October 12, a sport utility vehicle (SUV) driven by Fareez Rahman, 16, nephew of a former Awami League lawmaker, was racing with another car on a somewhat waterlogged Gulshan street, said a policeman who was close by at the time.

According to policemen present at the scene that day, Fareez had been drinking alcohol before the crash.

Lisa was walking on the pavement when Fareez lost control of his vehicle and drove onto the footpath, ramming two rickshaws and uprooting an electric pole.

“I was hit from behind and lost consciousness immediately. When I woke up, I found myself at a hospital,” said the 24-year-old employee of a private firm.

Lisa said the money charged by the hospital that day was paid by the driver's family. “The perpetrator should pay for my treatment, but that does not mean I will not seek justice.”

Lisa's husband told The Daily Star that he too did not sign any agreement.

On October 14, Shapla Begum, wife of another injured Rafiqul Islam who is still under treatment at the United Hospital, said she had not signed any agreement with Fareez's family.

Asked, OC Sirajul yesterday said, “The agreement was sent to the police station by the vehicle owner's family. I don't know who did and didn't sign it.”

Policemen who met Fareez  at the crash scene said he is the nephew of former Awami League lawmaker Dr HBM Iqbal.

Soon after the crash, pictures of cops taking Fareez to Gulshan Police Station surfaced on the social media. Police later freed him.

One of Fareez's friends gave this newspaper the pictures that Fareez took of himself from his mobile phone while driving.

Meanwhile, lawyers Aneek R Haque, Farid Uddin, Ali Bashar and Jyotirmoy Barua yesterday filed a public interest litigation with the High Court seeking trail of Fareez and adequate compensation for the victims.