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A Dhaka court has ordered the start of the trial against former The Daily Star Executive Editor Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife, Tania Khandaker, in a case filed over the death of domestic worker Priti Urang, allegedly due to negligence.
Dhaka First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Alamgir Hossain rejected the accused’s discharge petitions and framed charges against them on Wednesday.
Additional Public Prosecutor of the court, Mohammad Billal Hossain, said the court fixed January 4, 2027, for the beginning of witness testimony.
Both accused were present in court during the charge-framing hearing. Their lawyers, Chaitanya Chandra Halder and Omar Faruk Asif, pleaded for their discharge, while prosecutor Billal Hossain argued in favour of framing charges.
After hearing both sides, the court asked the accused whether they pleaded guilty or not guilty. They pleaded not guilty and sought justice. The court subsequently ordered the charges to be framed against them.
According to the case documents, Priti Urang’s family home is located inside Mirtinga Tea Garden in Kamalganj upazila, about 12 kilometres from Moulvibazar district headquarters.
Priti had been working as a domestic worker at the couple’s apartment on the eighth floor of a multi-storey building on Shahjahan Road in Mohammadpur, Dhaka, for nearly two years before the incident.
On the morning of February 6, 2024, Priti fell from the apartment through a gap in a glass window in the living room, which allegedly lacked adequate safety grills. She sustained critical injuries and later died while undergoing treatment at a hospital.
Following the incident, Priti’s father, Lokesh Urang, filed a case. Police arrested Ashfaqul Haque and Tania Khandaker in connection with the case.
After completing the investigation, SI SM Mahmud Reza of the DB police’s Tejgaon zonal team submitted a charge sheet against the two accused on March 31, 2024.
As the case became ready for trial, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court of Dhaka transferred it to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court on June 16, 2024.
Ashfaqul Haque and Tania Khandaker spent around four months in jail before securing bail from the High Court and being released in June 2024.
On April 2, 2024, while Ashfaqul Haque was in jail in connection with Priti Urang’s death, The Daily Star authorities announced that he had been relieved of his position.