Court again denies bail to teenager in Baridhara death case

A Dhaka court on Wednesday again denied bail to a 17-year-old boy in a case over the death of construction worker Mehedi Hasan Mim, who was run over by a car while resting on a footpath in the capital’s Baridhara area.

Judge Md Abdul Moktadir of Dhaka Children’s Court-8 rejected the bail petition after a hearing on Wednesday.

The defence sought bail on the grounds that the accused was a minor and that a settlement had been reached with the complainant. The complainant was also present in court. However, the prosecution opposed the petition and the court rejected it, the prosecutor said.

The teenager’s bail plea had also been rejected by the same court on October 4. Former Dhaka Bar president Khorshed Mia Alam represented him during Wednesday’s hearing.

Mehedi was killed around 5pm on September 22 when a speeding private car lost control and struck him as he was resting on the footpath on Road No. 1 in the Baridhara Diplomatic Zone. He was taken to Kurmitola General Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

People at the scene detained a teenager who was behind the wheel and handed him over to police. He was released to his uncle’s custody later that night after questioning.

Mehedi’s brother, Moktadir Islam, filed a case with Gulshan Police Station on September 23, naming driver Akash Mark as an accused but not identifying the teenager who was reportedly driving.

Following public criticism, police took the teenager into custody on September 23. The following day, the investigating officer, Sub-Inspector Arefin Islam, produced him before a court and sought an order for his detention at a juvenile development centre.

The court ordered him to be sent to the Tongi Juvenile Development Centre in Gazipur. On the same day, the teenager’s lawyer, Alamgir Hossain, told journalists that the case had been settled for Tk 900,000.