Crime

Unbearable Losses

Farhana Urmee

Happy Family moments are long gone; two family members will never come back.

For Amanatullah Chowdhury and Khairunnahar Shikha there is no end to their mourning. They have lost two beautiful children whose lives were cut short by perverted killers who continue to escape the eyes of the law. Their fifteen-year-old daughter had gone out on February 14 with a friend and never came back. She fell victim to a gang of stalkers who raped and killed her and threw her body into a canal. Eight months ago Babla, her brother was killed and thrown into a river; the same gang is suspected.

Ayesha Akhter Tumpa, a student of class X in Shegun Bagicha Rahima High School had remained missing until her body was identified in a canal of Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) Dam in Rasulbagh area. According to her family, a gang of boys often stalked their daughter Tumpa resulting in an altercation between the stalkers and Tumpa's Brother Babla eight months ago. Babla had protested their behaviour and slapped one of the stalkers. After around 15 days Babla was allegedly abducted and his body was found floating in Kakon River at Narshingdi. The family filed a case with Raipura Thana of Narshingdi district.

Ayesha Akhter Tumpa

“When my son was killed I had to accuse some of his in-laws in connection with the murder as his body was found nearby his in-laws' place. Again my son's in-laws never cooperated with me regarding filing the case so I was compelled to include them in my list of suspects," says Amanatullah Chowdhury, father of deceased Tumpa and Babla. He adds that he always suspected the gang who had stalked Tumpa to be behind his son's murder. But he had no proof and hence had to remain silent. More importantly he was also afraid for his daughter now as he and his family had become more vulnerable after his son's killing.

Khairunnahar Shikha, Tumpa's mother says, "We had not even been able to get over our son's death; almost each and every night we talked about him and could do nothing but weep for him. But now we cannot even cry as my only daughter's murder has left us speechless.”

"They had been stalking and disturbing my daughter for three years," Khairunnahar says adding that “Hridoy's mother also brought a marriage proposal of his son for my daughter when she was in class VIII. We never allowed her to go anywhere alone as the gang was always hanging around near my house.”

Al Kawsar Masud Babla

According to Police, Tumpa was abducted by a local gang of five to six stalkers of Segunbagicha, led by a young man of the locality named Asaduzz-aman Hridoy. Police suspects that the gang kidnapped, raped, and killed Tumpa, after she had gone out with a friend named Sayeed to celebrate Valentine's Day. Police arrested Sayeed, 18, to whom Tumpa went to meet on the very eve and Nurul Haq, 19, one of the alleged stalkers of the gang.

According to family sources, the local gang led by Hridoy, 22, is known to be involved with committing a number of offences like stalking other girls, land-grabbing and more. The same gang allegedly abducted the daughter of a ruling party lawmaker from the city's Shegunbagicha on February 19. Hridoy and his family members have gone into hiding since the arrest of Nurul Haq, one of his accomplices. According to Rezaul Karim, Officer-In-Charge (OC), Shahbagh Thana, police has raided a number of places tracing mobile calls but every time they manage to flee before the police reaches. Regarding the legal development of the case he says that police is fully active to search for the alleged perpetrators.

Babla and his sister Tumpa- their killers are still on the loose.

As soon as Amanatullah realised his daughter was missing he informed the police. The police also traced her mobile phone's position at Uttar Rasulbag, Shanarpara, Shiddhirganj, Narayangang at one in the morning of February 15 and sent a text message to Amanatullah. “If police took immediate action by raiding that area and searching for my daughter, they could, possibly have saved my daughter,” says Amantullah. However, Shahbag Thana OC says, it was not definite that Shanarpar was the last destination of Tumpa, and they were hopeful that Tumpa might switch on the mobile again as Tumpa's cell phone was being switched off and on intermittently.

“When my son was killed I was all broken and could not get justice for him. But that silence affected me at the expense of my daughter's life for whom I remained mum. But now that two of my three children have been murdered I definitely will not back off and fight until the murderers are punished," says Amanatullah Chowdhury. The yearning for justice often provokes Amanatullah to carry out his own investigation of his daughter's killing. “Often I wonder how long I will have to wait for the police investigation to be completed and the murderers to be tried. I lose my patience as I have seen no justice of my son's murder. We just want those perpetrators to be punished.”