She was first chained to the bed. Then she was beaten up with a stick and an iron rod all over the body. 

The husband did not stop there. He then lit up a fire beside the bed and heated up the rod and a silver spoon, and pressed the hot objects on her body, burning her from neck to chest including the breasts. 

This is enough to make anyone's heart bleed, but not her husband's.

The husband then applied chili powder and salt on her burnt wounds to inflict more pain on her.

She cried her heart out for help. But nobody came to her rescue in the dead of night.  

The husband was even trying to pour some liquid into her mouth, but she refused to drink it fearing it might be poison. 

All this happened as her parents failed to pay dowry as demanded by her husband -- Badal Mridha, son of Ohab Ali Mridha of Sharifabad village at Gouranadi in Barisal.

Yesterday, Taslima was telling the heartbreaking story of horror unleashed on her on Wednesday early hours to this correspondent lying on the bed of burn unit at Barisal Sher-E-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH), with tears rolling down her cheeks.  

With critical injuries, Taslima remained chained to the bed until her parents appeared in the very morning for her rescue after her eldest son -- an eighth grader -- informed them over the phone of the incident. 

Taslima's mother Nurjahan said one of Badal's relatives even waylaid them when they were taking their daughter to hospital.

Taslima, daughter of Ajij Howlader of Jupihati village at Uzirpur in the district was married off to Badal around 16 years ago. 

Badal was paid Tk 2,00,000 at the time of marriage and 1,00,000 last year as dowry, said Nurjahan, but he was demanding more.

She added that the torture on Taslima had escalated in the recent past, as they could not pay any more money.

Unable to bear the intensity of torture, Taslima said she escaped to her sister's residence in Dhaka around two weeks back. 

Upon requests from her husband over the phone repeatedly, the mother of two came back to her husband's home Wednesday early hours only to face the torture, what would haunt her for the rest of her life.   

Serajul Islam, director of SBMCH, said, “She (Taslima) was admitted to the burn unit, and later shifted to One-Stop Crisis Centre (OCC).”   

Feroz Kabir, officer-in-charge of Gouranadi Police Station, said a case was filed with the police station on Friday and the husband was arrested the same day.

“This is a beastly attack. We demand exemplary punishment for the husband," said Rashida Begum, district women affairs officer in Barisal.