Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal today visited the residence of Dia Khanom Mim, who met a tragic end to her life in a road accident on Sunday, and warned that the people who are responsible for the accident will not be spared.

“The responsible persons will be tried under the existing law,” Kamal told reporters after meeting with the victim’s family members at their Mohakhali residence in Dhaka this noon.

Dia Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib, students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College, were killed as a Jabal-e-Noor bus ploughed through a crowd while competing with another bus of the same company on Airport Road last Sunday – in yet another glaring example of Dhaka’s unruly transport sector.

Following the accident, when reporters asked Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, also executive president of Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, about the deaths caused due to competition between two buses for passengers, the minister, with a broad smile, threw a counter question at them.

“A road crash has claimed 33 lives in India's Maharashtra; but do they talk about it like the way we do?” he asked. The remark and the smile caused uproar on social media.

During the visit, the home minister extended his deep sympathy to the bereaved family members and assured them saying that the shipping minister would not be able to influence the trial process.   

At that time, Mim’s parents requested the minister to ensure justice and said they would be happy if the responsible driver and helper are tried.  

Some fellow students of Mim, who were present at the time, also requested the home minister to ensure capital punishment of the reckless driver of the bus.

They also urged the minister to construct a foot over-bridge at the MES bus stand in the capital to avert further road accident in the area.

Responding to a query, Kamal said technical fault of the bus of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan has been detected. “Now we are examining the route permission of the bus and driving license of its driver.”