A five-year-old girl has been admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with several injuries and scars in her private parts after being allegedly tortured by her stepmother.
The incident took place at Balimora village in Chandpur district's Faridganj upazila on December 21.
The girl, Fatema Akhter, is also reportedly suffering from severe post-traumatic stress after facing physical and mental torture which continued for several months, claimed her maternal uncle Faruk Hossain.
Faruk, who took her to the hospital, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Fatema's stepmother Rina Begum used to tortured her regularly. Recently, she pushed brick chips through her private parts, leaving her seriously injured.
“Hearing the girl’s cries, locals rushed in and found her bleeding profusely from her private parts, and informed her mother Nazmun Nahar. We then went to her father's house and rescued her in a critical condition.
“Later, we took her to Ramganj Health Complex from where she was transferred to the DMCH on December 26 after her condition deteriorated,” the uncle said.
“She would be shifted to the One-stop Crisis Centre (OCC) on Tuesday for better treatment and legal support,” added Faruk.
Wishing not to be named, an on-duty doctor told the Dhaka Tribune: “She got severe infections but her condition is better now... but she is also suffering from post-traumatic stress.”
However, the doctor could not provide any detail of how Fatema received those injuries.
In another development, the father of the victim, Emdadullah, filed a written complaint with the local police station against her mother and uncle.
He claimed that they abducted her daughter and took her to an unknown place without his consent.
Faridganj police station SI Ranajit, who is investigating the matter, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have received the complaint and after proper investigation we found that the girl was not tortured, rather she was suffering from mental illness.
“However, we arranged a local arbitration in the area on Monday night and the father of the girl agreed to bear all expenses of her treatment.”
The OC of the police station, Nazmul Haque, however, said he was not aware of any such incident.
Locals said Emdadullah and Nazmun Nahar got divorced in 2012. Later, Rina got married to Emdadullah in 2013. Fatema used to stay with her father and stepmother, who occasionally beat her up severely.