The suspicious death of Jonia, 15, a housemaid who died after falling from the roof of an 11-storey residential building in Kafrul, Dhaka on Sunday morning, has raised several questions as the statements given by the victim’s family and the accused family contradict each other.
Jonia’s father Usman Goni filed a supplementary complaint with Kafrul police station on Monday accusing her employer Ahsan Habib, his wife Naznin Akhter and their elder son Rummon Bin Ahsan, claiming that Rummon, 26, had raped and then killed her.
Julekha Begum, Jonia’s aunt, said when they were washing her body before the burial, they found bite marks on her chest and several scratch marks on her body.
Phul Banu, Jonia’s mother, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that Jonia had gone to Ahsan Habib’s flat to work as her replacement and had worked there until Saturday. On Sunday morning, Jonia took her neighbour, Lolita Begum, 35, to get her the job of a part-time housemaid at the flat because Jonia did not want to continue working there.
Asked if her daughter had ever been teased by Rummon, Phul Banu said Jonia never told her anything about that.
Lolita told the Dhaka Tribune that she went to the flat with Jonia around 7am and spoke with Naznin, who told them to go back to the flat after 9am, so Lolita and Jonia left and went back to their slum around 7:30am.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune on Monday, Ahsan said Jonia had indeed come to his flat after 7am on Sunday, while Rummon said the time was around 7:20am.
He said when he left for work around 7:50am, he heard about a girl falling from the roof of his building, who later turned out to be Jonia.
No one could tell when and why Jonia went back to the building.
Meanwhile, Mojibor and Monir, who were on duty at building’s gate on Sunday morning, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that they never noticed when Jonia and Lolita entered and left the building, or when Jonia came back. They also said they did not hear any sound of someone falling.
The security system of the building, one of many in NAM Garden government officers’ quarters, also seemed poor. There are no CCTV cameras installed in the building or at the gates.
Ahsan said he had told the building’s management committee about installing CCTV surveillance several times, but in vain.
There is also a register to enlist the names of the visitors, but the entries for Sunday did not have Jonia’s or Lolita’s names.
Ahsan also claimed that Jonia had worked at his flat until Thursday, and did not go to work on Friday and Saturday. He also claimed that he was the one who talked with the housemaids, although Lolita claimed they had talked with Naznin.
When the Dhaka Tribune tried to contact Ahsan today, he could not be reached despite several attempts.
The Dhaka Tribune also attempted to reach Saifullah, the security in-charge of the housing complex, but he allegedly forbade everyone to give his contact details to anyone, said another security guard Ali Hasan who contacted Saifullah over phone.
Shikdar Md Shamim Hossain, OC of Kafrul police station said: “The three liftmen and one caretaker who had been arrested on Sunday night had been placed in remand. We are interrogating them. We will inform the media if we find anything significant.”
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia at a city event yesterday said all necessary measures are being taken to properly investigate Jonia’s death. He said whoever is found guilty of killing her would be punished accordingly, regardless of his or her identity and position.