A teenager accused of running over and killing a construction worker on a footpath in Dhaka’s Baridhara diplomatic zone has secured bail on a Tk2,000 bond, weeks after his family reached a Tk9 lakh financial settlement with the victim’s relatives.
The bail was granted on 29 October by Judge Md Abdul Moktadir of the Dhaka Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-8. The accused, Azan Ali Sharif, had earlier been sent to a juvenile correction centre after his initial bail application was rejected.
The decision has drawn attention to the circumstances surrounding the case, particularly the financial settlement and the prosecution’s earlier position that the offence was not legally compoundable.
Public Prosecutor Mohammad Sharif Uddin Mamun confirmed the bail order. He said the defence had sought bail during the hearing, while the prosecution opposed the application. The court granted bail after hearing both sides.
Advocate Harun-or-Rashid, who represented the prosecution during the earlier proceedings, told TIMES that the court had not granted bail on the basis of the financial settlement.
He said the court might have considered other grounds, including the accused’s status as a minor or the period he had already spent in custody.
Tk9 lakh settlement with victim’s family
The financial agreement between the accused’s family and the relatives of the deceased worker, Mehedi Hasan Mim, emerged shortly after the accident.
On 24 September, after the teenager was produced before the court, defence lawyer Md Alamgir Hossain told journalists that the two sides had reached a settlement for Tk9 lakh and that the full amount had been paid.
According to the settlement document, Tk1 lakh was paid to cover Mim’s burial and religious rites, while another Tk8 lakh was provided considering the future needs of his elderly parents.
The document stated that the victim’s family would cooperate with any legal process required to settle or withdraw the case in accordance with existing laws and court procedures.
It also mentioned that the family would not oppose, or would express no objection to, bail applications for Azan Ali Sharif and Akash Marak, the man initially named as the car’s driver.
The defence lawyer said the agreement had been reached through mediation involving relatives and respected members of the community.
However, the settlement did not mean the criminal case could automatically be withdrawn or resolved.
Prosecution questioned legal validity of settlement
Harun-or-Rashid had earlier said the case, filed under Sections 98 and 105 of the Road Transport Act, 2018, was not compoundable. A private agreement between the complainant and the accused, he said, did not require the court to accept the settlement.
“A person has died. A settlement in such a case does not automatically mean the court will accept it,” he had said.
The investigation officer, Gulshan Police Station Sub-Inspector Md Arifin Islam, also said the settlement would not affect the police investigation. He said he was unaware of the agreement at the time and that police would continue their investigation independently.
Teen initially released after accident
The accident occurred at around 5pm on 22 September on Road 1 in the Baridhara diplomatic zone.
Mim, 24, a construction worker, was resting on the footpath beside the road when a speeding private car lost control, mounted the pavement and ran him over. He was taken to Kurmitola General Hospital with serious injuries, where doctors declared him dead.
The car also struck a streetlight pole. Police said CCTV footage showed the vehicle mounting the footpath at high speed.
After the accident, local people detained a teenager who emerged from the driver’s seat and handed him over to police. However, after questioning, police released him into his uncle’s custody that night, a decision that later drew criticism.
Police said the teenager had been removed from the scene to protect him from a possible mob attack.
Another man initially named as driver
Mim’s brother, Moktadir Islam, filed a case with Gulshan Police Station on 23 September. The case, filed under the Road Transport Act, initially named Akash Marak, 44, as the driver. The teenager seen in the driver’s seat was not named at that stage.
Police later said CCTV footage and other information indicated that Azan Ali Sharif had been driving the car. He was subsequently taken into custody and arrested from a house on Road 12 in Gulshan on 23 September.
On 24 September, the investigation officer produced him before the court and sought an order for his detention. The court sent him to a juvenile correction centre after a hearing. His first bail application was rejected the same day.
His family later filed another bail application. The tribunal granted it on 29 October, allowing him to secure release on a Tk2,000 bond.
