4 years of Churihatta Tragedy: Justice still a far cry

The victims of Churihatta fire tragedy and their family members are yet to get justice, though four years have elapsed since the incident took place in Old Dhaka in 2019.

Family members of the victims are still expecting the trial of the case will be ended soon.

On February 20, 2019, the fire broke out at a chemical warehouse in Churihatta of Chawkbazar. The fire incident claimed at least 71 lives.

The following day, Md Asif, a resident of Chawkbazar, filed the case in connection with massive damages, including the loss of many lives due to negligence. After three years of investigation, Chawkbazar police station OC Abdul Kaium pressed charges against eight people, including two owners of Wahed Mansion.

Dhaka's 8th Additional District and Sessions Judge Syeda Hafsa Jhuma ordered the trial to begin on January 31. The court fixed March 14 for recording statement. The court also summoned the petitioner Asif in this regard.

The accused are: owners of Wahed Mansion Hasan alias Hasan Sultan, Sohel alias Shahid alias Hossain, owners of chemical warehouse Imtiaz Ahmed, director Mozammel Iqbal, manager Mozaffar Uddin, Mohammad Jawad Atiq, Mohammad Nabil and Kashif.

Asif, petitioner of the case said that no one take care of us now. Some people try to get information from us to get publicity during the fire anniversary. However, we didn’t receive any compensation yet.

Assistant public prosecutor Mazharul Haque said charge framing has been done already. We hope, the trial process of the case will end soon.