ZIHAD’S DEATH IN RAILWAY COLONY WELL : HC asks govt to pay compensation

The High Court on Thursday directed the government to pay compensations to the family of minor boy Zihad who died after falling  into a 600-foot deep abandoned well at Shahjahanpur railway colony in the capital on December 26, 2014.
The court said in its full verdict to be delivered later it would spell out the amount of compensation and which department would have to pay it.
The court asked the government to provide the compensation for the death caused due to  its negligence, said lawyer Md Abdul Halim, who appeared for  Zahid’s family.
A bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akando issued the directive after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by Halim on behalf of Children Charity Bangladesh Foundation.
The  petition demanded payment of Tk 30 lakh as compensation to Zihad’s family.
Neighbours lifted the body of three and a half-year old  Zihad using a cage fitted to wire after the fire service abandoned rescue operation saying that the minor was not there in the narrow 300-feet deep well.
Zihad’s parents Nasir Fakir and Khadiza Akhter,  present in the court, later told reporters that they would not get back their son.
Nasir said he and his family felt insecure since unidentified people began to continuously threaten him to withdraw the case he filed against the railway officials and engineers for causing Zihad’s death.
He urged the police to ensure their security.
He said that he would expect no parents to lose their sons due to negligence of government officials.
Zihad fell in the abandoned uncovered well near his house at Shajahanpur Railway Colony  while playing with friends.
The police failed to submit its  re-investigation report in over a year since Zihad’s death but the charge sheeted accused were freed on bail in September.
On April 7, 2014 the police submitted the charge sheet against railway contractor Abdus Salam, who bored the deep well and senior sub-assistant engineer of Bangladesh Railway Jahangir Alam.
After the charge sheet was filed against the duo, Nasir filed a petition expressing no-confidence on the charge sheet saying that following interference from the higher authorities the police omitted  the names of the railway officials whose negligence caused the death.
On June 4, magistrate Mahbubur Rahman ordered the Detective Branch to reinvestigate the incident.

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