A Bangladesh court has accepted the murder charge and has agreed to put several defendants in the case on trial over the collapse of the Rana Plaza which killed 1,135 workers, many of them making garments for Western retailers.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Al-Amin took the decision as he accepted the charges, which were filed in June by the criminal investigation department of the police. Forty-one defendants in total face charges over the April 2013 disaster at the complex, which housed five garment factories supplying to global brands. Plaza owner Sohel Rana is the principal accused. The court has issued an arrest warrant against those absconding and others, who are out on bail.
The incident, one of the worst industrial calamities put a question mark on safety conditions in Bangladesh. Duty free access to the west and low wages made Bangladesh one of the leading garment exporters with $25 billion a year industry. Estimates indicate that 60 per cent of the product are supplied to Europe, with 23 per cent heading to the United States and 5 per cent to Canada.
A recent study report of USA-based New York University's Stern Centre for Business and Human Rights has said that millions of people working in the readymade garment industry of Bangladesh still face unsafe conditions. The report also said that Bangladesh has more factories engaged in the global RMG business than stated by its industry.
