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About three thousand cases were pending with the Women and Children Repression Prevention courts in Chittagong due to shortage of judges, time-consuming procedure in disposing of cases, and absence of witnesses.
   Court sources said a special tribunal was formed in Chittagong in 1997 to deal with the cases filed under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act. The tribunal was segmented into three courts in 2003 due to surge of cases.
   Now two thousand, nine hundred and forty-one cases remained pending with the three courts which were disposing of only 30 cases per month.
   The post of judge in the tribunal-1 had been lying vacant for the last one and a half year, hampering the court activities.
   Mafizul Haque Bhuiyan, special public prosecutor of tribunal-1, said many of the plaintiffs were not attending the court after being annoyed at the time-consuming procedure which was paving the way for the criminals to duck punishment.
   Another public prosecutor, Tariq Ahmed, said witnesses especially the physicians, investigation officers, and magistrates remained often absent from the court after they were reportedly influenced by the accused.
   It was one of the main reasons behind the delay in disposing of cases, he said.
   Abdus Sattar, public prosecutor of tribunal-3, said delay in disposing of the cases was forcing the victims in many cases to negotiate with the perpetrators.
   Thus the repressors tried to commit the same crime as they were not brought to justice, he said.

The city started getting back to its normal life after a three-day Eid holiday and two-day weekends that ended on Saturday.
   The people who went to parental homes started returning to Dhaka.
   All the three inter-district bus terminals, Sadarghat launch terminal and Kamalapur railway station remained crowded on Sunday.
   The number of pedestrians, rickshaws, three-wheelers, minibuses, cars and other vehicles was fewer than usual.
   A police sergeant at Sadarghat said the number of passengers coming to Dhaka increased over a couple of days.
   ‘I came to Dhaka from Barisal Sunday morning and joined work the same day,’ said Azhar Hossain, a government employee.
   Kamrul Akhtar, a businessman, said he had returned Dhaka from Rajshahi after five days and would begin his business on Tuesday.
   Auto-rickshaws and taxi-cabs forced the passengers to pay extra fare.
   There was a thin attendance in government and private offices. The peple exchanged pleasantries on the day.
   The attendance in the secretariat was thin, with most people chatting. There was no pressure of lobby parties in the secretariat on the first working day after Eid. There were a few lawyers and clients in courts.

Classes resumed at the University of Dhaka after a 23-day holiday on Sunday, with a very thin attendance.
   The students, who attended classes on the day after the winter, Christmas and Eid holidays, said about a half of their scheduled classes were not held as there were very few students and in some cases teachers were absent.
   It was a bit unusual that the classes resumed on the day the university reopened after the holiday, said Mahiuddin Alamgir, a student of history. But he said he was happy as there was little time to complete the courses.
   The halls of residence are still empty as the students who went home to celebrate Eid are yet to return.
   Few students have returned to the halls; and they found it hard to find food as the canteens remained closed.
   They are now going to Nilkhet or Chankharpul for meal three times a day. But most restaurants at the places were also closed.
   As few classes were held, the students passed busy time exchanging pleasantries on the lawns of the academic buildings.
   Madhu’s Canteen, a place of political activists, was also dominated by general students on Sunday. A few student leaders were also there.
   The activists said their leaders were still in their hometown or villages to celebrate Eid.
   It would take few days for the university to go abuzz, said a student, chatting in Madhu’s Canteen.

The construction work of the teachers-students cultural centre at the University of Rajshahi has been suspended midway as a fault in the design was detected.
   Sources said the fault resulted from the negligence and lack of competence of the engineering department of the university.
   The authorities failed to say when the work would resume. Sources in the university said the construction of the building began in July 2005. The government allocated Tk 1.25 crore for the job.
   A Dhaka-based construction firm, Engineering Consultants Bangladesh Ltd, prepared the design in 1990. But the release of the fund was delayed, resulting in a delayed beginning of the work.
   The sources said the plan, prepared 15 years ago, was not modified when the construction began.
   The sources said the engineering department asked the authorities to update the design and a vigilance team later detected the fault.
   The team feared that the beams would not be able to withstand the load of the roof. It feared that the building might collapse in future.
   The team recommended that the construction should be immediately stopped and the design should be revised.
   The authorities ordered that the work should be suspended until the design was revised. The team blamed the engineering department regarding the approval of the plan.
   The chief engineer of the university, Abdur Rahim, said the university had no design layout.
   The plan was prepared by the Dhaka-based firm. He said the authorities had taken up the issue with the firm and its consultants would soon visit the site.

The four-kilometre Sonadanga Bypass from the KDA bus terminal to Natun Rasta in Khulna connecting the Khulna-Jessore Highway is in a bad shape as it developed a number of potholes at places.
   Vehicles from and to the north, north-west and north-east need to use the road with risk of accident. Accidents, small or serious, have become a regular phenomenon.
   Sources said the Khulna Development Authority made the road and handed it over to the Khulna City Corporation. The road was repaired about four years ago, the sources said.
   The sources said repair of about one-kilometre stretch of the road from Khulna Medical College Hospital to the Boyra bus stand began about two months ago. But the work is yet to be completed.
   People of the localities on both sides of the road went out on demonstrations and held human chain agitation programmes several times demanding that the road should be immediately repaired.
   The local residents said during the past few months, especially in rainy season, the road developed a number of potholes, making it risky for vehicles. They blamed the negligence of the city corporation for the situation.
   In the morning on January 11, a 65-year-old man was killed at Khanka Sharif on the road after a bus had hit him from the wrong side as there were a number of potholes on the other side, the residents said.
   The Khulna Division Bus and Minibus Owners’ Association president, Saharuzzaman Mortuza, also president of the Khulna Chamber and Commerce Industries, said the road should be immediately repaired.
   A high official of the city corporation engineering department said the corporation had planned to repair the road and was taking steps in this regard.

The prime suspect in the Pallabi gang-rape case, who reportedly led the crime, was placed on a three-day remand on Sunday.
   The police produced the man, Shahid Mridha alias Kalu, in the chief metropolitan magistrates court, seeking a remand for seven days; the magistrate granted three days.
   The police said Shahid with seven others stopped Jamal Mia and his two nieces and raped the nieces in a house at Baunia Beribadh. The family was from Sylhet.
   Jamal Mia filed a case with the Pallabi police, accusing Shahid and his associates on Saturday.

Weather is likely to remain mainly dry with partly cloudy sky all over Bangladesh till 6:00pm today.
   Light to moderate drizzle may take places over the Rajshahi, Dhaka and Sylhet divisions, the Met Office said in a forecast on Sunday. Light to moderate fog may occur late night and it might last till morning.
   Night temperature may slightly increase. The highest temperature on Sunday, 29.7 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Teknaf and the lowest, 9.2 degrees Celsius, at Srimangal.
   The sun sets in the capital city at 5:33pm today and will rise at 6:44am on Tuesday.

SOS-Kinderdorf International president Helmut Kutin made a courtesy call on the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, at Bangabhaban Sunday.
   Apprising the president of his organisation’s activities, Kutin said 650 youngsters have already finished school education from the SOS children’s villages in Bangladesh.
   A SOS children’s village would be set up shortly in Sylhet, he said, adding that already five such children’s villages are working in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, Chittagong and Bogra.
   Expressing satisfaction at the activities of SOS-Kinderdorf International, the president urged Kutin for undertaking more activities for the neglected and deprived children of the rural areas.
   Iajuddin emphasised contributions to the agriculture sector by the trained workforce of the SOS children’s villages and assured all-out cooperation to the activities of the SOS children’s villages.
   Secretary to the president M Kamal Uddin Ahmed, military secretary to president Major General ANM Muniruzzaman and press secretary to president Mokhlesur Rahman Chowdhury were also present.

Former president of the Workers Party of Bangladesh and historic Tevaga Movement leader Amal Sen’s third death anniversary will be observed tomorrow.
   The party and its front organisations have taken detailed programmes to observe the day.
   Centrally, the programme will be begin with placing floral wreaths at the portrait of Amal Sen in the party Asad central office auditorium in the capital between 4:00pm and 5:00pm.
   Politicians and the people from different sections will place floral wreaths at the portrait of the late leader.
   Amal Sen Smriti Rakkha Committee has taken up daylong Amal Sen Memorial Mela at his village Bakri in Narail on January 17.
   The programme includes placing floral wreaths at the place where he was cremated, holding discussion meeting, cultural functions and photo exhibition.
   The central leaders of the 11-Party Alliance and the Left Democratic Front will take part in the discussion.

Begum Momtaz Jasim, wife of poet Jasimuddin, has been buried under the little pomegranate tree by the side of her husband’s grave in Faridpur Sunday noon.
   Begum Momtaz Jasim was also known as Monomala.
   Her two sons — Dr Jamal Anwar and Khurshid Anwar, two daughters — Hasna Moudud and her husband law minister Barrister Moudud Ahmed and Asma Elahi and her husband former energy secretary Dr Taufiq Elahi Chowdhury Bir Bikram, were present.
   Her janaza was held earlier near the house of Palli Kabi beside the River Kumar.
   Food and disaster management minister Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yousuf, Shah Md Abu Jafar MP, deputy commissioner and a number of leaders and activists of different socio-cultural organisations attended the janaza.
   A prayer session has been arranged in this regard in the official residence of Barrister Moudud Ahmed after the asr prayers on January 17.

TUM Iftekharul Basher, a retired brigadier general, died of massive heart attack on Friday. He was 62.
   He is survived by his mother, wife, one son and one daughter.
   His janaza will be held at New DOHS Jame Masjid today after arrival of his son from USA.
   His qul khawani will be held in his New DOSH house no 225, road no 15 tomorrow after the asr prayers. Iftekharul Basher was born on December 3 in 1944 in Natore. He was commissioned in army in 1967 after completion of his education.
   He was the younger brother of sector commander of the War of Independence and former air chief the late Air Vice-Marshal AHM Khademul Basher.

Professor Syeda Salema Sultana died of cardiac arrest at her old DOHS residence in the capital city Sunday morning. She was 74.
   Professor Sultana, wife of the late Professor Syed Abdul Hye of Dhaka University, is survived by two sons and four
   daughters.
   Founder teacher of the Central Women’s College in the capital, Sultana was buried at the city’s Banani graveyard.
   Her qul khwani will be held on January 18 after the asr prayers at house no 73B, road no 6, old DOHS, Mohakhali.

Lalmon Habib, mother of the state minister for law Barrister Shahjahan Omar Bir Uttam, died Sunday at the Combined Military Hospital, Dhaka. She was 85.
   She was suffering from old age ailments.
   She is survived by six sons and three daughters.
   Her body will be taken to her village home at Jhalakati Monday.
   Family sources said she would be buried at Barisal Muslim Graveyard.

The viva examination of the lawyers for enrolment with the High Court bar, scheduled for Tuesday, will be held at 2:30pm instead of 4:30pm, said a release issued by the Bangladesh Bar Council.

Qul khwani of Mazeda Ahmed, a noted philanthropist, will be held in her 156, Santinagar residence in the capital city after the asr prayers today.

Nargis Ara Chowdhury, wife of Dr M Abdul Aziz, former vice-chancellor of Chittagong University, died on Sunday in Ibne-Sina Hospital at 12:30am. She was 56.
   She is the younger sister of Hasina Warda Chowdhury, wife of former president AQM Bodruddoza Chowdhury and daughter of the late Musleh Uddin Chowdhury. She was suffering from kidney-related and other complicated diseases.
   She is survived by her husband, two sons and one daughter.
   Her janaza was held at Baitun Nur Jame Masjid at Uttara after the zuhr paryers and was buried at the graveyard of Sector 4 at Uttara on Sunday.
   Her qul khawani will be held in her House 37, Road 8 and Sector 11 of Uttara. Her family invited all to join her qul khawani on January 18.

Housewife found
dead at Demra
A woman was found dead in her house at Demra in Dhaka later Saturday. Some said Roksana, 32, committed suicide after a quarrel with her husband, Mamun, 38. Some others doubted the proposition. Roksana became Muslim before her marriage 14 months ago. The deceased was from Galachipa in Patuakhali. The body was sent for a post-mortem examination.
— BDNews

Pallabi rape
incident slated
The Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights on Sunday expressed its resentment at the incident of gang-rape that took place in Dhaka early Saturday. One of the two girls, a garment factory worker, was from Chunarughat in Habiganj and the other, who was seeking a job, was from Barisal. On the night of January 13, a group of five took the girls to a house at Pallabi and raped them. Sigma Huda and Elina Khan in a statement said the incident was testimony to the violation of women.
— New Age

Tk 3 lakh goods
burnt in Ctg
Assets worth about Tk 3 lakh were burnt in a fire that broke out in a storehouse of motor car spares at Agrabad in Chittagong early Sunday. The Fire Service and Civil Defense officials said the fire broke out, from an electric short circuit, at around 00:10am. Two fire engines put out the fire in an hour. The owner of the storehouse claimed that the extent of damage might exceed Tk 3 lakh.
— New Age