Bangladesh's top court today ordered police to prevent the owner of a garment factory that catered to top Western retailers from leaving the country, six months after 111 of his employees died in a fire.
Delwar Hossain, the owner of Tazreen Fashion garment plant outside the capital Dhaka, was also ordered to appear before the court by May 30 after labour activists sought his arrest for his role in the deaths.
The ruling comes as the country continues to mourn one of the world's worst industrial disasters in which 1,127 garment workers were killed after a nine-storey factory complex collapsed at the outskirt of Dhaka on April 24.
Although Hossain was accused of "gross negligence" in the November 24 fire by a government probe, he was never arrested, unlike the proprietor and owners of the nine-storey Rana Plaza.
Some activists say Hossain's close ties with the powerful textile lobby had protected him. But with emotions running high, it is unclear whether that will remain the case.
"The judges have ordered the law-enforcing agencies to bar (Hossain) from leaving the country and bring him to the High Court by May 30," deputy attorney general Biswojit Roy told AFP.
"The court observed that he should be arrested just like the owners of garment factories based at Rana Plaza," said Roy, adding the observation was not legally binding.
Fire accidents are common in Bangladesh's 4,500 garment factories as most plants use shoddy wiring and they lack fire-fighting equipment.
Fire at the Tazreen factory where the workers were making clothing for global retail giants such as Walmart was the country's worst industrial inferno.
Industrial disasters since November have killed at least 1,250 workers, highlighting the appalling safety problems in the plants where three million workers toil for a basic monthly wages of USD 40, among the world's lowest.
Bangladesh is the world's second-biggest apparel maker and the USD 20 billion industry accounts for up to 80 percent of impoverished country's annual exports.
