Husband arrested for torturing wife over dowry in Barisal
Publish : 28 Apr 2017, 19:44
A man was arrested on Thursday night for abusing and torturing his wife in order to get her to coerce her family into paying more dowry.
On Wednesday, Badal Mridha, 38, and his family had chained Taslima up and then severely tortured her, demanding dowry.
Taslima Begum, 35, a mother of two, was rescued by her paternal relatives and admitted to the Barisal Sher E Bangla Medical College Hospital’s burn unit.
On Thursday afternoon, Taslima’s mother Jahanara Begum had lodged a case against Badal Mridha and Lal Mia Mridha with the Gournadi police station.
Police sources said Jahanara had said Taslima and Badal had married about 16 years ago at Jugirhat village under Wazirpur upazila in Barisal.
During her wedding, Taslima had been given gold ornaments and cash of Tk2 lakh as dowry so that Badal could purchase a tempo. According to Jahanara, Badal was not satisfied and frequently pressurised his wife for more dowry.
When questioned, Taslima said that Badal and her in-laws had recently began pressurising her to pay them Tk1 lakh more as dowry and when she failed to comply, they had tortured her.
She had then fled to Dhaka to seek aid from her eldest son, and after receiving treatment there, had returned to her husband on April 25.
Furious that she had returned without the dowry, her husband and his family had chained her up and started torturing her again by branding her with a heated spoon on various parts of her body.
Worried because his mother had failed to call and let him know that she had returned home safely, her son called Badal on his mobile and was able to hear his mother’s cries.
He then reached out to Taslima’s paternal family and they rushed over to save her.
According to Gournadi police station Officer-in-Charge Firoj Kabir, police are currently conducting a drive to capture and arrest Badal’s brother Lal Mia Mridha.
The Barisal Deputy Commissioner Dr Gazi Md Saifuzzaman visited Taslima at the Barisal SBMCH on Friday and gave her Tk10,000 as financial support toward her treatment.