Tazreen Fashions fire: Court fails to record witness testimonies

On November 24, 2012, a fire at the Tazreen Fashions Ltd factory in Nishchintapur of Ashulia killed 113 workers and injured 200 others.

Various rights organizations and families of victims observed the anniversary of the Tazreen Fashions tragedy on Friday, but justice is still a far cry for survivors and the victims’ family members.

11 years have elapsed since the devastating fire razed Tazreen Fashions Ltd, however there is no visible headway in trial proceedings of a case filed in connection with the incident.

The case is pending with a court because of several factors.

The trial started on September 3, 2015 against 13 accused, including Tazreen Fashions Ltd’s owner and managing director Delwar Hossain, and his wife and chairman of the RMG factory, Mahmuda Akhter.

The other accused are Shahiduzzaman Dulal, Mahbubul Morshed, Hamidul Islam, Md Al Amin, Md Al Amin and Anisur Rahman, Abdur Razzak, Md Rana, Shamim Miah, Dulal Uddin and Mobarak Hossain Monju. All of them were the top officials of the factory.

Since the trial began, the court has recorded depositions of only 11 prosecution witnesses. Although the court has repeatedly set new dates for recording witness testimonies, the prosecution has continually failed to produce the witnesses before the court.

Court sources said most of the witnesses in the case are RMG workers. After the fire, many of the witnesses joined new factories and moved to new locations, and law enforcement agencies were unable to find them at their previous addresses.

There have also been allegations that the accused convinced the poverty-stricken workers not to testify before the court, by providing them with financial benefits or new employment. There is an allegation that accused are threatening them so that they do not testify before the court.