A sub-inspector (SI) of police has been sued in court for harassing a pregnant woman and vandalizing her house.
The victim, Maria Khatun, filed the case in the court of Meherpur Senior Judicial Judge Md Hadiuzzaman on Wednesday afternoon, accusing Meherpur police station SI Laskar Lajul Islam alias Zia.
The court accepted the case and ordered the Meherpur additional superintendent of police (ASP) to investigate the matter.
The victim has accused SI Zia of torturing her, looting her jewellery, cash and her husband’s motorcycle, and vandalizing her furniture. Zia had gone to the house to arrest her husband, Baker Hossain, but not finding him there, he had acted thus, she alleged.
On the other hand, Meherpur SP has formed a three-member committee, led by ASP Sheikh Zahidul Islam, to investigate the matter.
The committee was asked to submit a report within three days. The other members of the committee are Detective Branch OC Wahidur Rahman and District Intelligence Officer Faruk Hossain.
In the case report, the victim mentions that she was home alone on Tuesday afternoon and was doing her cooking chores. Meanwhile, SI Zia, along with two other policemen, barged into the house by kicking open the main steel door.
She said: “When he was knocking on the door, I replied that there was no one at home. But he did not listen, and kicked the door open and started vandalizing the furniture. After seeing the motorbike in the kitchen, he asked for the key, but I refused.
“Then he pushed me to the ground and started using abusing words and threatening me.”
The victim continued: “At one point, after I was forced to give him the key of the Tk180,000 Apache RTR motorcycle, he took it away and told me to bring money to get the bike back.”
The case details further add: “The SI took Tk85,000 in cash and Tk91,000 worth of gold jewellery from the dressing table drawer.”
The victim’s husband, Baker, said: “I previously had a clash with an auto-rickshaw driver named Sohel, for which he complained against me to the police, and because of that, the SI came to arrest me.”
Baker demanded that proper justice be served to the accused.
He said: “My wife did not commit any crime nor did my household. My father is also a policeman and he could never do such kind of thing.”
Meanwhile, SI Zia has denied the allegations against him. He, however, admitted to taking the motorbike with him. When asked why he did that, he did not reply.
ASP Zahidul Islam said: “We will take necessary action after the investigation is done.”
Baker’s father is a police personnel currently posted in Rangpur.