Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-A total of 13 people including the managing director of Tazreen Fashions and his wife were indicted on Thursday over the deadly fire that killed 112 workers in the factory three years ago.
Dhaka District and Sessions Judge SM Kuddus Zaman rejected the discharge petition and framed the charges against the accused.
The judge also fixed October 1 for recording deposition of witnesses in the cases.
The owners of the factory is Delwar Hossain while his wife is Mahmuda Aktar.
On November 24 in 2012, at least 112 people were killed and nearly 200 injured in the Tazreen Fashions factory fire, in Ashulia, on the outskirts of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka.
Tazreen factory fire is Bangladesh's deadliest garment factory fire. In April 2013, the Rana Plaza factory collapsed killed 1,135.
The multi-floor Tazreen Fashion factory supplied clothes to a variety of Western retailers including US giant Walmart.
The fire sparked protests from thousands of workers who claimed the building had been unsafe to work, owner Delwar Hossain denied the allegations.
Bangladesh has since pledged to improve conditions at its garment factories.
Thirteen people, including the two owners, have been charged over a factory fire in December in 2013.
Police had said they had charged Delwar Hossain and his wife, as well as security guards and managers, over the blaze at the Tazreen factory.
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Hossain and his wife, Mahmuda Akter, are among the 13 people who were indicted over the fire.
An investigation found that when the blaze broke out, managers and security guards told workers it was part of a regular drill, and it was too late for many to escape, reports BBC.
Investigators said the nine-storey factory had no emergency exits, and workers desperately trying to leave found that some of the gates were locked from the outside.
Victims of the fire, many of them women who were paid as little as $37 ( £23) a month, found themselves overcome by the smoke inside the building.
This the first time Bangladesh has sought to prosecute factory owners in the influential garment industry, which is the world's second largest after China and a vital part of Bangladesh's economy.
BBN/SS/AI