The young woman in Gazipur, who sustained 90% burn injuries after her husband set her on fire over family rows, has died in hospital after fighting for life for three days.
Tapati Rani Das, 20, wife of Sanjay Kumar Das, was attacked on Saturday night and succumbed to injuries at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital yesterday noon.
Partha Shankar Paul, resident surgeon of the hospital’s burn unit, said Tapati died around 2:30pm.
He said he was utterly surprised to see that the girl had survived that long, considering the degree of her injury.
“A burn victim may survive for around ten days but it largely depends on his physical condition and the nature of the injury. As for Tapati, her mental strength might have helped her endure the pain for three days,” the doctor remarked.
Parul Akhter, a field-level officer at Ain O Salish Kendra, told the Dhaka Tribune Tapati expressed her strong desire to survive the attack while undergoing treatment at the hospital.
“She was an intrepid girl. She repeatedly said she did not want to die. She also gave her statement to police,” she said.
“Ain O Salish Kendra bore all her medical expenses and we will also provide her family with any legal support that they will need,” added Parul.
Sanjila Rani, mother of the victim, claimed that she had lost her daughter for reasons related to dowry. She said Tapati married Sanjay without parental consent.
“This is why we would rarely contact her after her wedding. But for the last two years, our five-year-old grandson Rudra Das has been staying with us and hence was not present when Tapati was attacked.
“For several days before the attack, Tapati and Sanjay had been in disagreement with each other over different things. Sanjay demanded Tk20,000 in dowry and the dispute was largely centred around it,” added Sanjila.
The victim’s mother said Sanjay is unemployed and would often beat up her daughter.
“He [Sanjay] would also ask Tapati to bring money from her father to run the family,” she claimed.
A day after the incident, Sanjila filed a case against seven people, naming Sanjay as the prime accused.
Sub-Inspector of Kaliakair police station Azim Hossain Khan, also the investigating officer of the case, said Sanjay went into hiding after attacking his wife. “The six other accused are also on the run,” he added.