Compensation to Russell: Writ seeks stay on HC order

Bangladesh Bus Owners Association today filed a writ petition with the Supreme Court seeking a stay on a High Court order that asked Green Line Paribahan to compensate Tk 50 lakh to Russell Sarker, who lost his left leg after a bus of the Green Line Paribahan ran over him on April last year.

The association submitted the petition to the officials concerned of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court praying to the apex court to make the association a party in the case.

In the petition, they also requested the SC to stay the HC order that asked Green Line Paribahan to pay the money, Advocate Khandaker Shamsul Haque Reza, a lawyer for the writ petitioner, told The Daily Star.

The SC chamber judge may hold hearing on the Bus Owners Association's petition tomorrow, he added.

Meanwhile, Advocate Abdul Matin Khasru, a senior lawyer of the SC and a former law minister, refused to move the case on behalf of Bangladesh Bus Owners Association.

Earlier on April 4, 2019, the HC ordered Green Line Paribahan to pay Tk 50 lakh to Russell Sarker by April 10, saying that it will pass an order for confiscation of the buses of the company if it does not pay the compensation by this time.

The HC also asked Green Line Paribahan not to sell its tickets for April 11, if they do not pay the money complying HC directives.

On April 28, 2018, Russell, 26, a car driver of a power company, lost his left leg from below the knee after he was knocked down by a Green Line bus near Mayor Mohammad Hanif Flyover in the capital's Dholaipar after an altercation broke out between Russell and the bus driver over rear-ending his car. As Russell chased down the bus, the bus driver ran him over.