2 critically burned housewives die

A housewife, who sustained severe burn injuries, died early yesterday at Enam Medical College Hospital in Savar, on the outskirt of Dhaka.

The deceased, Nasima Begum, 35, had been undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit of the hospital since she sustained burn injuries at her in-laws’ residence in Kornopara area of Savar on Thursday noon.

Nur-e-Alom, husband of Nasima, claimed that her wife set herself on fire over family feud.

“My wife set herself afire after pouring kerosene on her body in a room on the first floor of my house. I, along with my mother, was on the ground floor during the incident,” Nur, who lost his ability to move due to paralysis, told The Daily Star.

The room was locked from inside, Nur said, adding that locals and other family members later broke into the room and rescued her.

However, Nasima’s father Abdul Jalil, also a union parishad chairman in Manikganj, accused the in-laws’ family of killing her daughter.

In 2017, Jalil filed a case under Women and Children Repression Prevention Act with Manikganj court against Nasima’s in-laws, including her husband, following a torture incident, according to Nasima’s paternal family members.

Later, the case was mutually dismissed upon assurance of no further torture, they claimed.

Zakaria Hossen, inspector (investigation) of Savar Model Police Station, said the family members of Nur, including his mother, went into hiding following the incident.

“We are investigating the incident. We will also interrogate the victim’s husband,” the police official said, adding that the body was sent to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital for an autopsy.

Meanwhile, another housewife, who was allegedly torched by her in-laws on Tuesday, yesterday died at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Deepika Acharjee, who suffered burns over 92% of her body, breathed her last around 6:30pm, said Partha Sankar Paul, resident surgeon at the DMCH burn unit.

Police arrested three people in this connection. They are victim’s husband Bipul Acharjee, her brother-in-law Sajal Acharjee and mother-in-law Sandha Rani Acharjee.

Earlier, victim’s brother Arbinda Acharjee filed a case with Haziganj Police Station in this connection.

Our Savar and Chandpur correspondents contributed to this report.