A firefighter lowering a cable attached to a claw volunteers had devised to recover four-year-old Jihad from the well at Shahjahanpur Railway Colony in Dhaka on December 27, 2014. Photo: Star

The High Court today sought explanation from the government as to why it should not be directed to give Tk 30 lakh in compensation to the family of Jihad.

The four-year-old boy was killed after falling into an unprotected pipe hole dug by railway authorities at Shahjahanpur in Dhaka on December 26 last year.

In response to a writ petition filed by Children’s Charity Bangladesh Foundation, the High Court bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Kazi Mohammad Ejarul Haque Akondo came up with the ruling.

The rights organisation submitted the petition on December 28 last year, seeking its directives upon the government to give Tk 30 lakh as compensation to Jihad’s family.

The HC bench also asked the government to explain in four weeks why the negligence of the government, Wasa, fire service, railway and Dhaka City Corporation in rescuing Jihad should not be declared illegal.

Moreover, the court directed the fire service authorities to submit a list of uncared pipes, wells, tube-wells, sewerage pipe holes and water tanks across the country by May 15.