Bangladesh orders arrest of factory owners for deadly fire

Published December 31, 2013
The fire on November 24, 2012, shone an international spotlight on appalling safety conditions in an industry worth more than $20 billion a year.
 — File Photo
The fire on November 24, 2012, shone an international spotlight on appalling safety conditions in an industry worth more than $20 billion a year. — File Photo

DHAKA: A Bangladesh court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of the owners and four others over the country's worst-ever garment factory fire that killed 111 workers, after police laid charges.

The court in Dhaka issued the warrants for Delwar Hossain and his wife Mahmuda Akter over the blaze in 2012 at the Tazreen factory, where workers stitched clothes for Western retailers.

“Dhaka's senior judicial magistrate Wasim Sheikh issued the warrants of arrest against the two fugitive owners, Delwar Hossain and his wife Mahmuda Akter, and four other company officials for the Tazreen factory fire,”prosecutor Anwarul Kabir told AFP.

The fire on November 24, 2012, shone an international spotlight on appalling safety conditions in an industry worth more than $20 billion a year.

The factory, in the Ashulia industrial district, supplied clothes to a variety of international brands including US giant Walmart, Dutch retailer C&A and ENYCE, a label owned by US rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Kabir said the court accepted charges by police against all 13 implicated in the fire after officers earlier this month completed a 13-month investigation into the tragedy.

“The owners and 11 others have been charged with arson, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and death by negligence,” Kabir said, adding that all the accused face a maximum life term in prison.

The six whose arrest was ordered were not in court or in custody.

Police last week said it was possibly the first time a garment plant owner has been charged over a fire at one of the nation's 4,500 factories, where deadly accidents are common.

Factory owners are rarely charged over such tragedies in the sector, which is a mainstay of the impoverished country's economy, accounting to up to 80 percent of Bangladesh's exports.

The country suffered an even greater tragedy just months later in April when the Rana Plaza garment factory complex collapsed in Dhaka's outskirts, killing 1,135 people in the world's worst industrial disaster.

Opinion

Editorial

Ukraine initiative
Updated 21 Feb, 2025

Ukraine initiative

Whether Trump’s Ukraine peace initiative succeeds or not, it will be difficult for Kyiv, Europe to face Russian military machine without US support.
High cost of SOEs
21 Feb, 2025

High cost of SOEs

THERE are losses and then some. The finance ministry’s latest overview of the federally owned state enterprises...
Poor impression
21 Feb, 2025

Poor impression

RECENT developments in the Senate have provided cause for concern on how parliamentary business is being conducted....
Premature alarm
Updated 20 Feb, 2025

Premature alarm

Improvement in headline inflation gives policymakers chance to fix investment policies, implement structural reforms.
Forsaken province
20 Feb, 2025

Forsaken province

AND the endless cycle of violence continues. The brutal killing on Tuesday night of seven Punjab-bound passengers in...
In poor health
20 Feb, 2025

In poor health

THE absence of decent and affordable healthcare in the country continues to ruin lives. An example of this is ...