Khorsheda Begum of Cox's Bazar Sadar upazila was married to Kalimullah of the same upazila, and had two daughters. However, they were divorced in December 2016.
After the divorce, the younger of the two daughters went with Khorsheda to her maternal grandfather's house, while the elder one stayed with her father to complete her studies at the PM Khali High School.
So it came as a surprise when she was suddenly withdrawn from the school by the father in the middle of last year. She was a student of class six at the time. Soon after she was married off - a clear case of child marriage.
On Wednesday, Kalimullah was arrested by police working with the Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer, but the charges against him stemmed not from the child marriage, rather, he is charged with raping his own daughter.
According to the victim's statement, Kalimullah forced his daughter to sleep with him and raped her for the first time in March, 2017.
After this, he raped her repeatedly. At one stage, the girl conceived. It was then that Kalim with the help of local union parishad member Arif Ullah arranged for the girl to get married to her cousin.
The wedding took place in January. But barely weeks into her marriage, the girl gave birth to her own daughter.
It caused a sensation, and led to her ostracization by her in-laws. She also accused them of torturing her. Her (the victim's) daughter died in her infancy, not even a month old.
Eventually, she escaped from her in-laws’ house and went to stay with her mother, where she opened up for the first time about her ordeal. Her mother took her to the police, and a case was filed, on which the police acted yesterday, said Cox's Bazar Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Noman Hossain Prince.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
