Death of Diya-Rajib: Jabal-e-Noor drivers, helper get life term

A court Dhaka on Sunday sentenced three people, including two drivers of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan, to life term imprisonment in a case filed over the death of two college students in a road crash on Airport Road in the city on July 29, 2018.

Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Imrul Kayes handed down the verdict.

The lifers are Jabal-e-Noor drivers Masum Billah and Zobair Mamun and bus helper Asad Gazi. Asad was tried in absentia.

The court also fined them Tk 50,000, and they will have to suffer six months more rigorous imprisonment if they fail to pay the fine.

The court also acquitted two people — Jabal-e-Noor owner Jahangir Alam and bus helper Enayet Hossain -- as allegations brought against them could not be proved.

On October 25, 2018, owners of two Jabal-e-Noor buses Shahadat Hossain and Jahangir Alam, drivers Masum Billah and Zobair Sumon and assistants Enayet Hossain and Asad were indicted in the case.

According to the case statement, the accident took place amid a wild competition of drivers of the two buses of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan on the road.

Diya Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib, first-year students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College, were killed as one of the buses ploughed through some students in front of Kurmitola General Hospital on Airport Road in the capital.

The accident triggered a widespread protest by students, demanding safe roads and seeking justice for their fellows.