Monday, June 10, 2013

Jamalpur Tortured, left to die


Tortured at home and then left to die in a field, Fahima Khatun survived but has been fighting for her life. Unable to walk following the attack by her in-laws over dowry, she is now undergoing treatment.
The assault on her took place early on May 25 in which her parents-in-law Sirajul Islam and Afroza Begum, her husband Ariful and his two brothers — Anwar and Amanullah — were allegedly involved.
Fahima, 21, alleged her in-laws tortured her as she had failed to give them Tk 2 lakh in dowry. She was allegedly threatened with divorce if she failed to meet the demand.
“My father is not rich.  I tried to win their hearts through love and respect,” Fahima said. “I was determined not to leave my husband.”
Her father, Gulam Rabbani, is a farmer at Amirtee village of Jamalpur. He married Fahima to Ariful of Charband village of the same district in December 2011, spending Tk 1 lakh on gold ornaments for her.
Within six months of the marriage, her in-laws demanded Tk 2 lakh in dowry.
Torture on her actually began in February this year in the middle of her SSC exam, in which she got GPA 3.5, culminating in the attack on May 25, she said.
On that night, she was locked in the house with her hands tied and mouth gagged. The four men then mercilessly beat her with an iron rod, she said. She was also stabbed in her right hand.
The assault left her unconscious. Thinking that she was dead, her in-laws took her to a nearby field and left there.
But sometime later she regained her consciousness and started crying for help. Hearing her scream, two neighbours — Nazmul, 40, and Sohrab Ali, 45 — rescued her.
“Thus I escaped death,” Fahima said.
Despite extensive bleeding from her sex organ, which continued for three days in hospital, Fahima’s in-laws forcibly took her back home after Nazmul and Sohrab rescued her.
Concerned over her safety, Nazmul contacted one of Fahima’s relatives, Abul Hashem. She was then rescued from her in-law’s house around 7:30am and taken to hospital.
Doctors at the Maderganj upazila health complex, where she had been treated until a few days ago, said her condition was not critical but she would take time to recover and walk again.
Meanwhile, Fahima has filed a case against five members of her in-laws’ family, including her husband, under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.
The accused went into hiding following the incident, said investigating officer Abdul Gani of Maderganj Police Station.

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