The family of late Naimul Abrar Rahat is waiting for justice over the ninth-grader’s death during a Prothom Alo programme, almost four years after the High Court stayed legal proceedings against the alleged killing by negligence.

The case filed over the incident a year earlier accused nine people including Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman, and a police investigation found the Bangla newspaper’s authorities responsible for being negligent.

The plaintiff’s lawyer Md Omar Faruk Asif has told reporters the case proceedings are on a hold on High Court orders. “I only overlook matters in the trial court, and cannot comment on issues beyond it,” he said.

On 1 November 2019, during an event organised by Kishor Alo, a magazine of Prothom Alo, at Dhaka Residential Model College, Naimul died due to electrocution.

As per the statement of a case filed by Naimul’s father Mujibur Rahman, the management did not take proper precautions for a programme that was attended by so many students. There was also a lapse in power supply management.

Mujibur claims that Kishor Alo and the college did not pay any heed to the news of Naimul’s electrocution around 3.30pm that day, and continued the cultural programme till 7pm.

Furthermore, Kishor Alo personnel admitted the senseless teenager to Universal Medical College Hospital in Mohakhali at 4.15pm, instead of the Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital located nearby.

After the cultural show, Prothom Alo authorities informed Naimul’s family about his death through his classmates.

The accused put pressure on Naimul’s father to accept it as a tragic accidental death, wrote Mujibur in case filings.

Consequently, Naimul’s death was registered as an unnatural death case at the Mohammadpur Police Station, and the family decided to bury the body.

But, Naimul’s classmates were defiant.

On 2 November, they staged a demonstration and placed four demands, including disclosing the CCTV footage of the incident, and a written explanation from Kishor Alo and the hospital about the death of the student.

Four days later, Majibur Rahman filed a separate case accusing 10 people including Prothom Alo Editor and Kishor Alo Publisher Matiur Rahman. The court later dropped the name of Kishor Alo Editor Anisul Haque.

An autopsy was ordered after exhuming the corpse, and police submitted charge sheet on 16 January 2020.