Bangladesh: Launch owner gets bail in design change case

Dhaka, July 7, 2014 (New Age): A launch owner, who is accused of changing design of three capsized ships, got bail on Sunday in a case for building another launce MV Prince Awlad 4 extending the length beyond approved design. The Marine Court in Dhaka also asked the Department of Shipping chief inspector, Shafiqur Rahman, also the plaintiff of the case, to explain on July 6 why the surveyor of the launch, who gave fitness certificate for the launch, had been not been prosecuted. The Marine Court judge, Mohammad Kamal Hossain Shikder, also special metropolitan magistrate, granted bail to M Awlad Hossain in presence of other launch owners and their association leaders in the courtroom. Witnesses said that the cargo and launch owners and their rushed to the court as Awlad’s manager ABM Mahfuzul Haque over telephone informed them that the court ordered Awlad to remain standing in the dock during the hearing in the case. ‘The court was insulting a respected person on a minor charge and I requested the leaders to intervene in the situation,’ Mahfuzul told New Age. He said that association leaders M Kamal Hossain, Golam Kibria Tipu, Lakshman Das and Abdus Samad along with Awlad talked to the judge at his chamber during the break and threatened to go for a strike if Awlad was not granted bail or he was kept standing in the dock. ‘We went there being requested by some association members but we did not interfere in the court proceedings,’ said the Cargo Owners Association vice president, Golam Kibria Tipu, also Ship Owners Association executive committee member, said, ‘We talked to the judge so that no untoward situation could arise, but we did not interfere in the court proceedings.’ The judge denied any comment. Shafiqur Rahman filed the case against Awlad, the owner of the dockyard that built the launch and the panel supervisor. Earlier, two launches owned by Awlad — MV Mitali 3 and Maharaj — capsized in 2003 and 2005 respectively causing death of 296 people. A probe body, formed to investigate the recent capsize of Sureshwar-bound launch MV Miraj 4 near Munshiganj that left over 50 people dead, submitted its report to the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority chairman recommending that Awlad should be prosecuted for changing the approved design of the launch even though he sold the launch to Khandokar Anwar Hossain in January 2013. The probe body also recommended investigation into all the 10 launches owned by Awlad.