Fire at Dhaka court, Shimanta square in city
The fire service will form a committee to find out the cause of the fire and ascertain the extent of damage
Two fire incidents took place in the old Dhaka and Dhanmondi areas in the capital on Tuesday. However, no casualties have been reported in the fire incidents.
According to the Fire Service and Civil Defence, the fire originated around 1:15 pm in the 'Malkhana' (storeroom) of the Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court building. After an hour-long effort, Fire Service personnel tamed the blaze at around 2:15 pm.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of DMP's prosecution division Rabiul Islam said "At around 1:15pm, we noticed fire smoke billowing up from the ground floor of the court building. Court proceedings were taking place at different courtrooms when the fire broke out."
Frightened by fear, some judges, lawyers, and people who came to join trials rushed to a safer location," he added.
As the fire incident occurred in the court, fire service director Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Md Rezaul Karim also rushed to the scene.
Quoting eye-witnesses, the fire service director told journalists that the blaze might have originated from an electric short circuit at the storage/storeroom. Evidence and documents of different cases are usually stored in the storeroom.
If the evidence/documents of the under-trial cases were burned, it may disrupt the legal proceedings of hundreds of people, several lawyers and persons related to the court trials said.
"The damage was yet to be determined. We will form a five-member committee to find out the cause of the fire and ascertain the extent of the damage," the fire service official said.
Authorities will also look into whether the incident was motivated or just an accident, he added.
Meanwhile, another fire broke out at Shimanta Square, a shopping complex in the city's Dhanmondi area at around 5 pm. Three units of firefighters doused the fire after 30 minutes of effort.
Rashed Bin Khalid, duty officer of Fire Services and Civil Defense, told the journalists that the fire originated from the basement wastage. Smoke was billowing out over the multi-storied building. However, the situation was brought under control within half an hour's effort.