The High Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to Sohel Rana, a former leader of Awami League鈥檚 youth organisation Juba League and the owner of the eight-storey Rana Plaza, which collapsed on April 24, 2013, killing over 1,100 workers and injuring approximately 2,000 others.
The disaster, one of the worst industrial accidents in the history of Bangladesh, occurred in Savar, on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka.
The vacation bench of Justice Md Ataur Rahman Khan and Justice KM Hafizul Alam granted Rana six months鈥� bail after hearing his appeal challenging a lower court鈥檚 early September decision rejecting his bail prayer.
Deputy attorney general Masud Rana told reporters that the government would appeal the High Court鈥檚 decision, citing the sensitivity of the case due to the immense loss of lives caused by negligence on the part of the building owner.
Sohel Rana鈥檚 lawyer Mohammad Shazzad Ali Chowdhury said that the bail order opened the door for his client鈥檚 release from jail, as his client secured bail in four other cases and completed his sentences in two additional cases.
The lawyer referred to an observation from the Appellate Division, issued on January 13, 2024, which instructed lower courts to grant bail if the trial was not completed within six months.
Sohel Rana sought bail from the High Court after the Dhaka District and Sessions Judge鈥檚 Court had rejected his previous request. He has been imprisoned for nearly 12 years since his arrest by the members of Rapid Action Battalion on April 28, 2013, at Benapole in Jashore, four days after the Rana Plaza collapse.
Court sources revealed that the murder case against Sohel Rana, owners of the factories in Rana Plaza, several engineers, and local public officials remained stalled.
The trial court has so far examined 92 prosecution witnesses, out of 594, since beginning of the trial in the case in December 2016.
The collapse of Rana Plaza, which housed five garment factories, a shopping mall, and a private bank, resulted in the deaths of at least 1,136 workers and left over 2,000 others injured.
The incident sent shockwaves across the globe, highlighting unsafe working conditions in the garment sector of Bangladesh.
Over a decade later, survivors and the families of the deceased are still seeking compensation, medical treatment, and rehabilitation, as their plights remain unresolved.
