A group of eminent citizens have claimed that the death due to negligence case filed over the demise of 15-year-old Preeti Urang, a domestic help at the house of Syed Ashfaqul Haque, the terminated executive editor of The Daily Star, was only to hide the gravity of the crime.
The call was made at a press conference organized by the Conscious Citizens' Society at the National Press Club on Thursday.
The Coordinator of “Nijera Kori” Khushi Kabir presided over the press conference.
It was organized to demand an independent, impartial investigation into the unnatural death of Preeti Urang and a speedy trial.
The speakers said even before Preeti Urang's death, another worker was tortured at Ashfaqul Haque's house on August 4 last year.
The house help sustained severe injuries after falling from a window of the building.
The citizens claimed that the repetition of the same event could not be an accident.
On the other hand, the citizens claimed that they had looked into the matter and found the seven-year-old, who survived the incident, had undergone surgery on her genitalia. Abdul Adel, the manager of the building, signed the surgery as a guardian.
The citizens demanded that the trial of the culprits be completed through a neutral, fair, impartial, influence-free, and transparent investigation.
They said they have repeatedly demanded and requested the government for protection and welfare of the domestic helps but did not see any reflection of it in reality.
Eminent human rights activist Dr Hameeda Hossain, Dhaka University Professor Dr Gitiara Nasreen, Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad leader Kajal Debnath, and others were also present at the press conference.
Fifteen-year-old Preeti Urang, daughter of Moulvibazar’s Lokesh Urang, used to work as domestic help at Ashfaqul Haque’s flat in the capital’s Mohammadpur.
She died allegedly by falling from the flat’s balcony on February 6.
Preeti had been working at Ashfaqul’s home for two years.
Preeti’s father Lokesh Urang filed the case under 304(A) of the Penal Code over the death due to negligence on February 7.
According to the case statement, Preeti fell from the apartment due to the absence of safety bars on the window of the flat's drawing space. Later, police recovered the body and sent it to Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.
Ashfaqul Haque, his wife, and four others from their residence were taken to the police station on February 6. The next morning, a Dhaka court sent them to jail after rejecting their remand and bail petitions.
The court asked police to interrogate them at the jail gate for three days.