Protests in Mirpur over a girl's death

Locals and family members of a deceased teen house help yesterday laid siege to Kafrul Police Station and NAM Garden Officers' Quarters at Mirpur, demanding arrest of the people who “raped and killed the girl”.

Carrying the body, they also blocked a road in Kazipara of Mirpur after it was discovered that the 13-year-old's “body had bite and scratch marks”.

Police found the body of Jonia next to the building of her mother's former employer hours after she went there Sunday morning. They detained four employees of the building for interrogation. Initially, police said Jonia died after she fell from the roof of the 10-storied building in NAM Garden Officers' Quarters.

The girl had been filling in for her sick mother who worked part time for a government official in a flat of Building-3 in NAM Garden.

Although police registered an unnatural death case on Sunday, they accepted a supplementary complaint from Jonia's father Osman.

Osman accused the government official, his son, and wife of killing Jonia after raping her, said Sub-Inspector Kamruzzaman of Kafrul Police Station, who is investigating the case.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Mirpur Division Masud Ahmed told The Daily Star, “We have started the investigation and sent the body for an autopsy and necessary tests. If we find any evidence [in favour of the allegations], the [unnatural death] case will turn into a murder case.”

The police, who had recovered Jonia's sandals from the roof of the building, said they were investigating whether she fell or she was pushed off.

SI Kamruzzaman said he interrogated the three accused who claimed that Jonia went to their home in the morning.

He said the accused told him that they had no clue as to how she had died.

The Daily Star correspondent tried to reach the accused for their comments but police and security guards prevented him from going into the flat citing security grounds.

Police picked up Siddiqur Rahman, Emdadul Haq, Ershadul Haq Titul, and Sohel Rana, employees of the apartment block, for interrogation.

Jonia's mother Ful Banu said a couple of hours after Jonia left for the flat, the police came over, took her to the building and showed her the body of her daughter.

She claimed that despite their insistence that Jonia was raped and murdered, the police recorded an unnatural death case. 

However, ADC Masud denied the allegation and claimed that the victim's family did not want to file any case.

When a neighbour was washing Jonia's body, as part of her last rites, two bite marks on her chest and several scratch marks on her body were allegedly discovered yesterday. 

This information enraged locals and several hundred people gathered on Rokeya Sarani at Kazipara with Jonia's body and blocked the road for about an hour from 10:30am.

They then went to NAM Garden with the body and tried to enter the apartment block. Police charged truncheon on them.

The locals laid siege to the apartment block around noon but about 20 minutes later they went to the police station and laid siege to that for about an hour. The mob returned to the NAM Garden around 1:00pm.

Around 2:00pm, police forcibly took the body to a graveyard in Sheorapara where Jonia was buried in the evening.

The mob continued its siege until 2:30pm without the body.

More than 100 policemen were deployed in the area.

Ful Banu told The Daily Star that Jonia had been working at the flat instead of her as she was sick.

She said Jonia did not go to the flat on Sunday to work but rather to introduce their neighbour Lolita Begum, 35, to take over from Ful Banu as the part-time house help.

Ful Banu claimed that Lolita told her that the government official's wife offered Jonia a full-time job at the home and was not interested in employing Lolita part time.

But Jonia refused and the wife asked them both to come over after a couple of hours.

Lolita went to Jonia's home around 9:00am to go to the flat again but Jonia was not home.

Ful Banu said around 10:30am on Sunday police went to her home in Uttar Ibrahimpur and asked her to go with them. She said she was taken to NAM Garden where she saw the body of her daughter.

She said the police told her that Jonia had committed suicide, which she did not believe.