Victim in jail, 'culprit' on bail

An alleged stalker and his mother tried to frame a family in an acid violence case for protesting the harassment of their college-going daughter at the capital's Lalbagh.

The four-member family had to spend a month in jail before they could obtain bail. The daughter, 23-year-old Suchona who goes to Begum Badrunnesa Govt Women College, is still in jail.

Getting out on bail, Suchona's mother Arona Begum told The Daily Star that she lives with her husband Abdus Sattar, their son Abdus Salam, 16, and Suchona a few doors down the alley from Chanchal and his mother Setara Begum on Duri Angul Lane of Old Dhaka.

She said Chanchal, a 30-year-old married man with a child, had been harassing Suchona over the phone for the last two years.

Suchona and other members of her family protested, but to no avail, as Chanchal and his family are influential in the neighbourhood.

They fought with Arona's family over the matter for months. “He [Chanchal] beat us up severely …,” said Arona.

She said Chanchal's family did not stop there.

In the afternoon of April 27, Setara raised a hue and cry that her body was burning. Arona was cooking in her first floor home, around 20 yards away from Setara's house in the narrow alley.

 When Arona went out to see what had happened, she was accused of hurling acid on Setara.

Chanchal and his accomplices later went to the scene and beat up Arona's son Salam, an SSC examinee. Suchona too arrived at the scene after her private tuition job only to be assaulted by them.

Chanchal and his gang called police and handed over the entire family to the law enforcers.

The police saw burn injuries on Setara's arm and arrested the entire family of Arona.

They were placed on 12 days of remand in two phases.

However, the police investigation later discovered that the case was false and Setara's injuries were not from acid at all. They also found inconsistencies in her story.

“The plaintiff was supposed to provide the burnt clothes as evidence but failed,” said Nazir Ahmed, additional deputy commissioner (Lalbagh division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

He said the case was filed following Chanchal's instruction and that Chanchal during primary interrogation admitted orchestrating the whole thing.

Setara had claimed that she heard the voice of Arona when the acid was thrown at her.

Police did not even find any evidence which could establish such an attack.

On May 29, almost a month after the family's arrest, police submitted the final report to court acquitting them of the allegation.

The case has not been dismissed yet and Suchona is still in jail failing to obtain bail.

This correspondent visited the home of Arona. The four-member poor family lives in a one-bedroom house.

Arona said for two years Chanchal had been harassing her daughter, a third-year honours student at Badrunnesa, over phone. When they brought the allegation before Chanchal's family, they outright denied it and Setara became angry for making the allegation public.

Arona's family eventually filed a case against Chanchal on May 30 for beating up the children.

He was arrested the same day but is now out on bail.

Arona worries how she would get her daughter married off. She thinks the stigma of her daughter being in jail and being in the mess Chanchal created would drive off potential grooms.