A Dhaka court has sentenced two Jabale Nur Paribahan drivers and an assistant to life in prison and acquitted two others in a road crash that killed two college students in 2018.
Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Imrul Kayes delivered the verdict on Sunday.
Two buses of Jabale Nur raced each other as they barrelled down from Kalshi flyover when one of them ran over the students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College waiting for transport on Airport Road, bdnews24.com reported.
Dia Khanom Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib died on the spot while several others were injured.
The accident triggered an unprecedented student protest, bringing Dhaka traffic to a standstill for a week.
Drivers Masum Billah and Jubayer Sumon and Md Asad Kazi, who is absconding, were convicted of culpable homicide.
Bus owner Jahangir Alam and Enayet Hossain, another assistant, were exonerated.
The other suspect in the case, bus owner Md Shahadat Hossain Akondo, is out on bail after the High Court stayed the trial proceedings against him.
In his reaction to the verdict, Public Prosecutor Abdullah Abu said the drivers and their assistants had ‘intentionally’ caused the deaths of the two students.
“They received the maximum punishment available under the law. The decision sends out the message that no-one will get away with reckless driving.”
Dia’s father Jahangir Alam, a bus driver, started the case with the Cantonment Police Station on the same day the accident occurred.
Inspector Kazi Shariful Islam pressed charges against the six accused in the case on Sept 6.
