A Dhaka court on Tuesday placed a 22-year-old man on a two-day remand in a case over allegations that he abetted the suicide of his 16-year-old newlywed wife in the capital’s Shyampur area.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbub Alam passed the order after hearing a remand plea filed by the investigating officer, Shyampur Police Station Sub-Inspector Imam Hossain.
The accused, Rahat Hossain, was produced before the court during the hearing. Relatives of the victim, Afra Khan, gathered at the court premises from the morning, demanding his punishment.
Afra’s mother, Lucky Akter, filed the case with Shyampur Police Station on August 20, accusing Rahat and three members of his family of abetting her daughter’s suicide.
The other accused are Rahat’s mother, Sonia Akter, father, Liton Bepari, and elder brother, Saif Hossain.
Police arrested Rahat from his residence in Shyampur’s DIT Plot area on August 21. He was sent to jail the following day.
The investigating officer later sought a seven-day remand for Rahat, and the court fixed Tuesday for the hearing.
During the hearing, the plaintiff’s lawyer Advocate Aktar Hossain Sohel, argued that Afra, who was under 18, had been persuaded into marriage despite her family’s objections.
He alleged that Rahat and his family later tortured Afra, demanded money from her family and killed her before attempting to stage the death as a suicide by hanging her body from a ceiling fan.
“This was not a suicide. There were injury marks on her body,” the lawyer told the court, adding that Rahat’s remand was necessary to establish the motive behind the alleged killing and identify others involved.
Rahat’s lawyer, former Dhaka Bar Association general secretary Nazrul Islam, opposed the remand plea and sought his client’s bail.
He argued that the couple had married with their families’ involvement and that the case documents did not conclusively establish that Afra had been murdered.
Afra’s mother, who was present during the hearing, said her daughter was underage at the time of the marriage.
“My daughter and Rahat were in a relationship, but we did not agree to the marriage. Rahat and his mother came to my house at least 10 times with marriage proposals. We were eventually compelled to agree,” she said.
After hearing both sides, the court granted Rahat two days in police custody.
According to the case statement, Rahat and Afra married on May 8. Following the marriage, Afra was allegedly subjected to verbal abuse, physical assault, threats, intimidation, humiliation and mental torture.
On August 20, Sonia allegedly called Afra’s mother and informed her that Afra had fallen unconscious. Liton and Saif then took her to a local hospital in Sutrapur.
Afra’s mother said she noticed injury marks on her daughter’s body at the hospital. Afra was later taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared her dead.
Her mother subsequently filed the case, alleging that the accused had abetted Afra’s suicide.
On September 2, Rahat’s mother Sonia, father Liton and elder brother Saif surrendered before the court and were granted bail.