Stone looting: Reports submitted to High Court; 1,500-2,000 sued

The government today submitted two separate reports to the High Court, saying that 1,500 to 2,000 unidentified people were sued for looting stones from Sylhet's Sada Pathor area area.

The case was filed on August 15 with Companiganj Police Station under Mineral Resources Act and Penal Code provisions, according to a report given by the secretary of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.

In another report, the deputy commissioner of Sylhet said that 50 lakh cubic feet of stones and 11 lakh cubic feet of sand have already been reinstated at the sand quarry.

The reinstatement and monitoring are ongoing while the list of offenders is being prepared, the DC said in the report.

Deputy Attorneys General Nur Mohammad Azami and Md Ershadul Bari Khandakar presented the reports before the HC in line with its August 14 order.

The HC bench of Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque and Justice Aynun Nahar Siddiqua ordered the ministry and Sylhet DC to give further progress report on this issue on October 22.

The bench delivered the order during hearing of a writ petition moved by Advocate Manzill Murshid on behalf of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.