‘Police belittled her marriage’

Police belittled her marriage and denied assistance when college student Liza Rahman went to Shah Makhdum Police Station in Rajshahi on Saturday, Liza’s brother alleged yesterday.

Liza, 18, who had been enduring pressures from her in-laws for a divorce, lost all hope when police refused to assist her and set herself on fire after leaving the police station that day, her brother Shihab Ahmed, 25, told The Daily Star.

“Her in-laws are powerful and they might have influenced the police somehow,” Shihab said.

Liza, a second year HSC student at Rajshahi Women’s Government College, is fighting for her life at Dhaka Medical College Hospital with around 60 percent burns.

Shihab said she recounted her experience to him as he has been looking after her at the hospital.

However, Rajshahi Metropolitan Police’s spokesperson Golam Ruhul Kuddus, an additional deputy commissioner, denied the allegations when contacted yesterday.

“We’ve found no indication of misbehaviour from police’s part,” he said, adding police dealt with the girl “very carefully and humanely”. He could not, however, give any reason for her to set herself on fire after stepping out of the police station.

He said a two-member committee that was formed on Sunday -- with RMP’s Additional Commissioner Salma Begum as the head -- began investigating the incident yesterday.

The committee that involves Detective Branch’s Deputy Commissioner Abdullah Al Mamun as a member was asked to report in three days.

Talking to The Daily Star over the phone, Shihab Ahmed said Liza lost her mother when she was just three months old. Her father Md Alam was too poor to look after her. 

Shihab’s father Abdul Latif -- of the same village in Gaibandha’s Govindaganj upazila -- adopted her. “We were raised as siblings,” he said.

Liza started staying in Rajshahi when she got admission to the college.

She was introduced to Shakhawat Hossain, 18, a second year student of Rajshahi City Government College, when they went to the same tutor.

In January this year, they got married through an affidavit before a notary public in Gaibandha and started living together in a rented house at Paba Notunpara in the city.

But they could not manage to have their marriage registered as they were not 18 at that time, Shihab said, quoting his sister.

They tried to conceal their marriage from both the families, but they learnt about it months ago. Shakhawat was eager to stay with her, but his family was pressuring her to divorce him.

“We learnt about the marriage when Shakhawat’s family members threatened us and asked us to keep her under control,” he said.

Shakhawat’s family members took him away from her for several times and every time, he went back to her.

When Shakhawat was taken away again on Saturday, she went to the police station.

“Police officials who talked to her used indecent language, told her that her marriage was not legal, and that she has been living with him [Shakhawat] illegally,” Shihab  said, quoting Liza.

“She told me the police officials were continuously telling her that they could do nothing as their marriage was not legal,” Shihab said.

Then she went out of the police station, collected kerosene from a local shop and poured it on herself -- setting herself on fire, he said.

Assisted by locals, police took her to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital and then on the same day, a police team brought her to Dhaka.

When contacted, SM Masud Parvez, OC of Shah Makhdum Police Station, said that he spoke to the girl.

As the police station does not deal with family issues, he sent her to the Victim Support Centre at the police station complex accompanied by a female constable, he said.

He acknowledged telling her that her marriage -- through an affidavit -- was not legal, but denied using “indecent language”.

“She left the police station halfway through recording her complaint,” the OC said.