Following a report under the headline ‘Husband snatches child from mother’ published in Bangladesh Post on Sunday last, police have returned a child to his mother Jesmin Ara Popi, a human rights worker of Palli Sree, an NGO in Dinajpur on Monday.
Popi’s husband, Md Hasmat Tanu and mother-in-law, residents of Shahpara village under Chirirbandar Upazila have been arrested in this connection. Later, they were sent to court on Sunday evening and the judge sent them to custody.
According to the report, child Nur Junkar Naim fell ill and Hasmat with his family beat Popi at the end of a disagreement over seeing a doctor on Friday. Snatching the child, they locked her in a room. On information over phone, Md Rashid, her cousin went to the spot with police. They rescued Popi and her son and took them to the police station.
After an agreement between the two parties at the police station, the police handed over the child to his mother and told her to spend some days at her father's house. Reaching husband’s house, Popi along with her father Mohammad Nasir Khan started for her ancestral home but 8-10 people including her husband and brother-in-law blocked their way, beat them mercilessly, and snatched the baby once again. Popi went to the police station with her father and cousin in a critical condition.
After the publication of a news item containing the incident in Bangladesh Post on February 21, Chirirbandar police called Nasir Khan to file a case under the Women and Child Abuse and Dowry Act. Then the child Junkar was returned to his mother and police arrested Hasmat and his mother Beauty Begum from their house. Popi said, “My father gave furniture worth Tk 1 lakh to my husband as dowry during marriage yet they used to torture me demanding more than Tk 5 lakh.”
