Dhaka court issues arrest warrant for newspaper editor

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - A court in Bangladesh’s capital issued arrest warrants Thursday for a Bengali-language newspaper's editor, deputy editor and eight other employees in a case filed over the death of a teenager.

Matiur Rahman, editor of the Prothom Alo daily, and the other employees are accused of negligence after 14-year-old Naimul Abrar Rahat was electrocuted when he touched a wire behind the stage during a party Nov. 1 at his school celebrating the anniversary of the newspaper’s popular youth magazine.

Following the incident, the organizers were accused of not making proper preparations for the event, and the victim was taken to a remote hospital instead of a nearby healthcare facility.

The victim’s father filed a case with the court in Dhaka shortly after.

The warrants were issued after an investigating police team submitted its report to the court which said the unnatural death was due to negligence according to Section 1 (a) of the country’s Penal Code.

Omar Faruk Asif, the lawyer for the victim, said during a briefing that the court had issued the warrants after accepting the investigation’s findings.

Lawyer Prashanta Kumar Kammokar, the law reporter for the newspaper, told Anadolu Agency that his office will take the next course of action in accordance with the country’s laws but did not elaborate further.