A Dhaka court on Thursday issued arrest warrants against Bangla daily Prothom Alo Editor and Publisher Matiur Rahman, deputy editor Anisul Hoque and eight others in a case filed over the death of Dhaka Residential Model College student Naimul Abrar Rahat. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Kaisarul Islam passed the order after Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, Inspector Md Abdul Alim of Mohammadpur Police Station, submitted the investigation report before the court. Eight others accused persons are: Kabir Bakul, Shuvashish Pramanik, Mahitul Alam, Shah Paran Tushar, Jasim Uddin, Mosharraf Hossain, Sujan and Kamrul Hawlader.
The father of victim, Mojibur Rahman, filed the case with the Fourth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka on November 6 last year. Abrar, a ninth-grader, was electrocuted during the anniversary programme of Prothom Alo’s youth magazine Kishor Alo on November 1 last year. Some unnamed people linked to the programme were also made accused in the case.
Mojibur complained that his son died due to negligence of the event organisers. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (in-charge) Md Aminul Haque heard the complaint and took it into cognizance. He also ordered the officer-in-charge of Mohammadpur Police Station to submit an investigation report on the case on December 1, after merging it with the report of the unnatural death case filed earlier in this connection.
In the complaint, Mojibur said his son was electrocuted and was unconscious at 3:30pm on November 3, 2019 while attending the programme of Kishor Alo. The 14-year-old boy was taken to Universal Medical College and Hospital in Mohakhali 45 minutes after the incident whereas Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital was very close to the event venue, Mojibur complained, adding that his son was declared dead at 4:51pm that day. Abrar might have lived had the authorities immediately taken him to the nearby hospital, he mentioned.
