Court summons Ukhiya OC over bailable charges in case of 10 tourist deaths at Cox's Bazar Tuptup Resort

A court has summoned Ukhiya police station officer-in-charge (OC) Atikur Rahman for including bailable sections in the case over the fire at Tuptup Resort on Patuartek beach in Ukhiya, Cox's Bazar, in which 10 tourists died. The court treated the failure to include a non-bailable section in the case against 23 people as a serious offence.

On Monday, 26 October, Cox's Bazar Senior Judicial Magistrate Asad Uddin Asif ordered OC Atikur Rahman to appear in person on 29 October and give a written explanation. The explanation was sought on whether legal action under Section 218 of the Penal Code and departmental punitive action would be taken against him.

Shahajahan Elahi Nuri, administrative officer of the Cox's Bazar Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, confirmed the order. He said copies of the court's direction had been sent to the OC and the relevant offices.

OC Atikur Rahman said he had not received the court's notice as of Monday evening. He said he would appear in time and present his statement once he received it, and that he too was saddened by the deaths of 10 people in the resort fire. In his account, Section 304 of the Penal Code was left out of the case statement amid the busyness of the day of the incident, and an application was made the next day to add that section.

The court order noted that the case filed over the deaths of 10 tourists in the fire at the resort on 17 October initially included Penal Code sections 304-ka, 338 and 34. Later, on 19 October, the investigating officer applied to add Section 304.

According to the court's observation, as the officer responsible for recording the case statement, the OC deliberately did not include Section 304. The court considered it a serious offence to take the case under the bailable Section 304-ka, leaving out the non-bailable section, in a grave incident in which 10 people died. The order also observed on whether there was a dishonest intention to save the accused from appropriate punishment.

Under Section 304 of the Penal Code, a proven offence can bring life imprisonment or a maximum of 10 years in prison. Under Section 304-ka, by contrast, the maximum punishment is five years in prison.

The court order also raised questions about the resort's fire safety. It said there was no fire-extinguishing system and no emergency exit. After the fire broke out, tourists were trapped inside and 10 died because they could not get out. The resort had long been operated without the necessary safety measures, the observation also noted.

According to police and court sources, at around 8:30 a.m. on 17 October police received news of the fire at the resort through the national emergency service 999. At around 9:15 a.m. police reached the scene and saw Fire Service personnel putting out the fire. The fire came under control at around 2:30 p.m. Ten bodies were then recovered from there.

Because the bodies were burned in the fire, they could not be identified immediately. Sub-Inspector Rimon Ghosh of Inani police outpost prepared the inquest report. The bodies were later sent to the morgue of Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital for autopsy and DNA sample collection.

Ukhiya police Sub-Inspector Ashish Sutradhar filed a case of death by negligence over the incident at around 11 p.m. on 17 October. Four people were named in it and 19 unidentified people working at the resort and restaurant were accused. In total, the number of accused in the case is 23.

The named accused are resort owner Tanvir Sultan Mia, 38, a resident of Purba Gomdandi in Boalkhali, Chattogram; chief manager Saeed Ahmad, 32; manager Mohammad Said, 30; and assistant manager Zahid Hossain Suman, 29. Saeed Ahmad's home is in Barishal, Mohammad Said's in the Jaliapalong area of Ukhiya, and Zahid Hossain's in Chunati, Lohagara, Chattogram.

After the case, police arrested the resort's assistant manager Zahid Hossain on the afternoon of 18 October and sent him to court. An application seeking seven days' remand for him has been made. Court sources said the application had not been heard as of Monday afternoon and could be heard on Tuesday. He is currently in Cox's Bazar District Jail.

Three accused, including resort owner Tanvir Sultan Mia, had not been arrested even nine days after the incident. The name of another resort owner, Newaz Morshed, was also not in the initial case statement. An application has been made to the court to include his name, OC Atikur Rahman said.