Published: 12:23 AM, 25 April 2026
Rana Plaza tragedy: Thirteen years on, justice remains elusive
Thirteen years after the Rana Plaza collapse in Savar, the trials in the two main cases over the country's deadliest industrial disaster remain unfinished.
The murder case has recently gathered pace, with testimony recorded from 145 of the 594 listed witnesses.
But in the case filed under the building construction law, witness testimony has yet to begin, despite charges having been framed years ago.
The 10-storey Rana Plaza building near Savar bus stand collapsed on Apr 24, 2013, trapping about 5,000 workers inside several garment factories housed there, bdnews24 reports.
Over days of rescue efforts, 1,136 bodies were recovered from the rubble, while 2,438 people were pulled out alive. Nearly 2,000 of them were left injured or disabled.
Five days after the disaster, on Apr 29, building owner Sohel Rana was arrested at Benapole while trying to flee to India.
Although several cases were filed after the collapse, the murder case and the building code violation case are regarded as the two principal ones.
Sohel Rana remains in jail in both, while most of the other accused are either on bail or absconding.
More than two years after the collapse, CID Assistant Superintendent of Police Bijoy Krishna Kar submitted chargesheets in both cases on Jun 1, 2015.
In one case, 41 people, including Sohel Rana, his parents, and the then mayor and commissioners of Savar Municipality, were accused of planned murder.
In the other, 18 people, including Rana, were accused of constructing the building in violation of building regulations.
There were 42 accused in total across the two cases, with 17, including Rana, facing charges in both. Four of the accused have since died.
Additional Public Prosecutor Faisal Mahmud of the Dhaka District and Sessions Judge's Court said the murder trial was now moving quickly.
"It is hoped that the verdict in the murder case will be delivered within this year," he said.
Rana's lawyer Masud Khan Khokon, however, said his client had remained in jail for 13 years without the trial being completed.
"If he is found innocent and acquitted, who will give him back these 13 years?" he said.
The day after the collapse, Savar Police Station Sub-Inspector Ali Ashraf filed a case over deaths caused by negligence, naming Rana and 21 others.
Separately, Shiuli Akter, the wife of garment worker Jahangir Alam, filed another case in court describing the deaths as murder.
On the court's order, CID merged the two matters in its investigation. Shiuli later became a witness in the case.
On Jul 18, 2016, then Dhaka District and Sessions Judge SM Kuddus Zaman ordered the start of the murder trial by framing charges against 41 accused.
Soon after, eight accused, including then Savar mayor Refayet Ullah and then councillor Mohammad Ali Khan, moved the High Court seeking to have the case dismissed. The court issued a rule and stayed proceedings, halting the recording of testimony.
After the stay was lifted, witness testimony began on Jan 31, 2022.
The case is now being heard by the court of Dhaka's 8th Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Munir Hossain. It was transferred there on Sept 28 last year in an effort to speed up proceedings.
Since then, 51 witnesses have testified over five hearing dates in the past five months.
At the last hearing on Mar 30, eight witnesses gave evidence. The next date for testimony has been set for Apr 30, bench assistant Riazul Islam Sajib said.
He said non-bailable arrest warrants had been issued against 50 witnesses and summons sent out to secure their appearance.
Faisal said most of those who had testified so far were relatives of the victims, while some were police officers.
"If we can take testimony from some of the engineers and doctors connected to Rana Plaza, it is hoped we will get a verdict within this year," he said.
