HC bench splits over bail for factory owner
A two-judge High Court bench yesterday delivered a split verdict on a bail petition filed by Bazlus Samad Adnan, owner of a garment factory housed in the Rana Plaza that collapsed in April last year, killing at least 1,135 people and injuring scores.
Adnan, the owner of New Wave Style, had submitted the petition to the HC seeking bail in a case filed by police for negligence in protecting the lives of the victims.
Yesterday, Justice Syed Md Ziaul Karim, senior member of the HC bench, granted bail to Adnan considering that the case was filed under such a section of the law which allowed the court to grant bail to an accused.
Meanwhile, junior member of the bench, Justice Ashish Ranjan Das, rejected the bail petition, saying that the negligence that the petitioner had committed in saving the lives of the victims was not a small offence, and therefore, he could not be granted bail.
AM Amin Uddin, a lawyer for Adnan, told The Daily Star that the HC bench would now send the bail petition along with the a split verdict to the chief justice.
After receiving the petition, Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain will forward it to another HC bench for its final disposal, he said.
A total of 22 people were arrested in connection with three cases filed over the the Rana Plaza collapse. Of them, eight including the building owner Sohel Rana's father Abdul Khalek have got released on bail.
Savar police, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) and a victim's family filed the cases following the disaster on April 24 last year.
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