Brick kiln worker punished instead of owner

Md Tareq Khan, a labourer of Siam Bricks, has been in Patuakhali jail for more than one and a half months, apparently for no fault of his own.

On March 19, while Tareq was working at the illegal brick field in Dhandi village under Baufal upazila, a mobile court of the Department of Environment's (DoE's) Barishal divisional office raided the place.

The mobile court, headed by Abdul Halim, director of DoE's Barishal divisional office, named Tareq as the owner of the brick kiln, fined him Tk 20 lakh and served him one year of imprisonment.

Abdul Halim told The Daily Star, "Since the brick kiln is illegal, no government records exist on it. Thus, whoever we found at the site baking bricks was punished."

"There has been no misapplication of the law," he added.

According to DoE Barishal, Tareq was punished as the owner under the Brick Making and Kiln Installation Control Act-2013 (Amended).

Meanwhile, the actual owner Abdul Aziz alias Kutti Mollah, of Nazirpur village under Baufal, said he has no idea why Barishal DoE identified Tareq as the owner and jailed him.

"Everyone knows that I am the owner of the kiln. But I don't know why my worker was punished as the owner," he told this correspondent on May 2.

"Tareq has been working since November last year. He is a very good man at heart," the owner added.

However, director Abdul Halim said there is no room to question any sentence given by a mobile court.

"A higher court can look into the matter," he added.

Tareq's father Abdul Matin said, "My innocent son has been unjustly punished."

To appeal against the sentence at the local magistrate court, on March 22, Abdul Matin applied for certified copies of the documents issued by Barishal DoE's mobile court.

He alleged that the director of Barishal divisional DoE has been reluctant to provide the certified copies.

When contacted, Abdul Halim told this correspondent on May 5 that the certified copies of the documents were sent to the Patuakhali district magistrate court on May 3.

Like most institutions, all courts are closed till May 16 because of the pandemic.

Advocate Syed Mohammad Mohsin, secretary of Patuakhali bar (lawyer's) association, said the court will decide on the hearing after getting the documents.

After the hearing, the court can either grant bail to Tareq or fix a date for the final hearing. The court may also consider whether there was any discrepancy in the mobile court sentence, he added.