Biman MD Shafiqur Rahman and his wife sent to jail on charges of torturing a domestic worker

A court has sent four people, including Biman Bangladesh Airlines Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shafiqur Rahman and his wife Bithi, to jail on charges of brutally torturing an 11-year-old child domestic worker. Police arrested them from Uttara in the capital at around 3:30 am on Sunday (February 1). The next day, Monday afternoon, when they were produced before the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Raju Ahmed, their bail application was rejected and all of them were ordered to be sent to jail.

The other two accused sent to jail are Shafiqur Rahman's domestic worker Rupali Khatun and Ms. Sufia Begum. Rupali Khatun has two children aged two years and six months, so they were also sent to jail with their mother as they could not find a guardian. Police said that after the arrest of the accused, they gave contradictory information about the incident during interrogation and it was not possible to verify their names and addresses. In this situation, they applied to be kept in jail for fear that the investigation would be disrupted if they were granted bail, which the court accepted.

The plaintiff in the case is the child's father, who is a hotel employee. In the complaint, he said that in June last year, he gave his 11-year-old daughter to work as a domestic worker at the house of Shafiqur Rahman and Bithi, based on an introduction through the house's security guard. At that time, he was assured that they would bear all the expenses for the child's marriage and future. He last saw his daughter in good health on November 2. After that, he went to see her several times, but she was turned away on various pretexts.

On January 31, when Bithi called and said that the child was sick, he went to pick up the girl. Later, when the girl was explained to him in the evening, he saw that there were serious burns and injury marks on various parts of her body, especially her hands. The child was also having difficulty speaking. Later, she was admitted to Gazipur Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital. There, the child said that since November 2, Shafiqur Rahman, Bithi and unknown persons have beaten him up and stabbed him in different parts of his body with hot irons.

After this incident, the child's father filed a case of child abuse with Uttara Paschim Police Station on February 1. The police said that the accused will be remanded and further legal action will be taken in the interest of a fair investigation of the case. After the incident came to light, there has been a huge stir in the society and there has been a demand for strict action against child abuse.