HC asks to pay Tk 3m for damaging child’s arm

Staff reporter  :
The High Court on Wednesday directed the owner of Nur Engineering Workshop at Kamalpur in Bhairab upazila under Kishoreganj district to pay Tk 3 million in compensation to a 13-year-old child, who lost his right arm while doing a risky job.

The boy, Naim Hasan Nahid, a Class VII student, was engaged in operating a heavy auto drill machine during the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

The court asked workshop owner Yakub Hossain to pay the compensation money in two installments, Tk 1.5 million in April and Tk 1.5 million in December 2024, through the Nahid’s bank account with Al Arafa Islami Bank’ Jatrabari branch in the capital.

Workshop owner Yakub was ordered to deposit the money through two separate Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDRs) with Nahid’s account.

The HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque issued the directive after disposing of a writ petition filed by the boy’s father Anwar Hossain seeking Tk 20 million as compensation for amputation of his right arm from elbow.

The court also asked the workshop owner to pay the boy Tk 7,000 every month until the boy completed his education at higher secondary level.

The court also asked Yakub to submit a compliance report to it each three months on execution of the directives.

The court said Nahid will be the owner of the FDR money with all benefits after 10 years. Even his parents cannot withdraw this money, said the court.

Meanwhile, the High Court also asked Nahid’s father not to proceed with the criminal case filed with the lower court against the factory and its owner over the damage of his son.

Anwar said that his school going son was appointed as peon during the closure of the educational institutions due to Covid pandemic, but he was later forced to work in operating drill machine.

Following the verdict, Justice Naima even called the class VII student, who was just 10 at the time of the accident, to the bench and gave him a chocolate. The judge asked him to focus on his studies, and visit her when he becomes a big officer.

Lawyer Aneek R Haque and Md Bakir Uddin Bhuiyan appeared for the victim’s father, while lawyer Md Qamrul Islam defended the factory owner. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Nahid’s father, a shoe trader in Araisidha village in Brahmanbaria’s Ashuganj upazila, became unemployed. Nahid, his father and mother started working at Nur Engineering Workshop in Bhairab. At one stage, Nahid had an accident and lost his right arm.