Death penalty likely for traffic deaths
Students in Bangladesh are demanding a change to transport laws due to high road fatalities
Bangladesh’s cabinet yesterday was to consider capital punishment for traffic accident deaths, a law ministry official said, as tens of thousands of students protested for a ninth day over the deaths of two teenagers killed by a speeding bus in Dhaka.
Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina, who faces an election due by the end of the year, has accused her political rivals of trying to stir up anti-government sentiment using the deaths as a pretext. The opposition has denied involvement.
The crowded capital of 18 million has been paralysed by angry school and college students demanding changes to transport laws following the July 29 deaths, after a privately operated bus ran over a group of students.
“In this amendment it has been proposed to award the highest level of punishment if it is killing by an accident,” said the law ministry official, who has been briefed on the matter but declined to be identified ahead of a decision.
Handing down the death penalty for accidents is rare anywhere in the world, and Bangladesh transport officials listed measures ranging from 14 years in Britain in extreme cases to two years in India. ■
Three years in jail is the current maximum in Bangladesh.
Defying government warnings to end the protests, students in school uniforms have blocked most of Dhaka’s roads, setting up checkpoints that let through only emergency vehicles.
Police said they were still investigating Sunday’s attack on a car carrying the US ambassador to Bangladesh by a group of armed men, some riding motorcycles. There were no injuries but two vehicles were damaged.
Shaikh Shafi, a polytechnic student injured in a protest on Saturday, said one problem was that bus drivers must work long hours as they do not receive monthly salaries but are paid commissions based on passenger numbers instead.
“Our demand is that the owners must appoint them and they will work a maximum of 10 hours. The commissionbased system must be eliminated,” said Shafi, whose brother died in a road accident in 2015.
Our demand is that the owners must appoint them and they will work a maximum of 10 hours. The commission based system must be eliminated.”
Shaikh Shafi | Polytechnic student