Victim of domestic violence cries for justice

A woman who fell victim to domestic violence has demanded punishment to her husband, alleging that he has been torturing her since their marriage about 15 years ago.

Although the victim, Shabana Rouf, filed a case against her husband Abdur Rouf recently and the police arrested him the next day, her in-laws are now threatening her with death if she does not withdraw the case.

Shabana, who has an 11-year-old physically challenged child, described her agonising ordeals at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters' Unity auditorium yesterday.

Shabana, a resident of Mohammadpur in the city, said Abdur Rouf was her private tutor and they got married in 1992 after knowing each other.

But several months later, their relationship turned sour as Abdur Rouf pressed her to bring dowry from her father and she complied, she said.

Shabana said her husband soon became a different man after he joined a private company and started earning a handsome amount.

"He then started living a reckless life and did not care for me any longer," she said, adding that he also tortured her whenever she protested his activities.

The situation worsened when Abdur Rouf brought a woman named Ruhi to their house and told Shabana that he married Ruhi. And both of them tortured her when she protested their activities, Shabana said.

"Rouf and Ruhi beat me with bat, belt and knife and forced me out of the house on April 15," she said.

Shabana filed a case with Adabar Police Station against both of them after the incident. The police arrested her husband, but Ruhi is still at large, Shabana said.

But Abdur Rouf's brothers are now threatening and pressing her to withdraw the case, she added.

"Now I and my child are facing uncertain future," she said.

Shamimun Lipi Nahar, chairman of SLN Media, Mujahidul Islam of Centre for Human Rights and lawyers Abul Kalam Azad and Mahbubur Rahman were present at the press conference.