A Chittagong court on Thursday sentenced truck driver Mafizur Rahman to serve five-year jail term with fines and in default nine more months’ imprisonment finding him responsible on several counts of reckless driving causing an accident at Mirsarai on July 11 which killed 45 persons including 43 school students.
The fatal accident at Mayani in Mirsarasi upazila of Chittagong district had sent shock waves across the nation.
The students, mostly of Abu Torab High School, were returning home in the pick-up Mafizwas driving, after watching a football match at Mirsarai Stadium.
The pick-up truck veered off the road and fell into a ditch killing the students and two others on the spot.
Senior judicial magistrate Farida Yasmin awarded the prison terms to the driver in a crowded courtroom in the morning and fined him Tk 20,000 and in default to suffer imprisonment for nine more months.
Later, public prosecutor Abul Hashem told reporters that the court sentenced him to three years of imprisonment, fined him Tk 10,000 and in default to serve six more months in jail under Section 304 (B) of the Criminal Procedure Code and two more years’ imprisonment and a fine of Tk 10,000 and in default six more months’ in prison under Section 338 (A) of the Cr PC.
He said that the convict would be in prison for five years as he would be required to serve the terms one after another.
He said that the offender would have to serve nine more months of jail term for failure to pay the fines.
Local union parishad chairman Kabir Ahmed Nizamee filed a case on the following day accusing driver Mafiz.
The police arrested him at Batna in Charbaria under Kaunia police station in Barishal on July 21.
On September 20, the investigation officer submitted the charge sheet against him with the court for reckless driving, driving without driving licence and speaking on mobile phone while driving.
Mafiz was indicted on October 30.
The court examined 37 witnesses before delivering the verdict.
-With New Age input
