Domestic work: 10-yr-old girl ‘tortured to death’ in city

The body of a 10-year-old domestic worker, which police recovered from a freezing van in front of a hospital in Moghbazar on Monday night, bore marks of torture, hospital and police sources said.

Police and family members suspect she was tortured to death, and the body was kept inside the freezing van with the intention to bury it secretly.

Law enforcers arrested the child's employer Farhad Badhan Mou, 69, after a murder case was filed by the victim's father with Shahjahanpur Police Station.

Mou claimed she is the joint editor of a weekly newspaper.

This newspaper could not get the arrestee's comments regarding the allegations.

Shah Alam Md Akhtarul Islam, additional deputy commissioner of Sabujbagh zone police, said they suspect it to be a murder and that it took place two days ago, as the body was found to be decomposing even in the freezing van.

"The employer tried to hide the body. After her death, she [Mou] kept the body at her Shantibagh house for one day. As the body started to decompose, she rented the freezing van and put the body inside it and asked the driver to park it near a private hospital in Moghbazar," he told The Daily Star.

Forensic doctors at Dhaka Medical College conducted an autopsy on the body yesterday after police sent it to the morgue on Monday night.

"The body bore numerous marks of torture and [there were] burn injuries in some parts too. There are also severe injuries in her genitals," a morgue source said, adding that the doctors have collected samples to test and confirm whether she was raped before death.

Soheli Akter, sub-inspector of Shahjahanpur Police Station, who prepared the inquest report, had also found marks of torture on the body.

"There are small bruises on her head, scratch marks on her forehead and left ear. A swollen wound was found on the right cheek.

"There was blood clotted in her nose and mouth. Bruises were found on the neck, various parts of the chest and abdomen. Her skin was found peeled off in some parts," the report said.

"My daughter earlier told me that the woman used to torture her… I want justice," the victim's father said.

He added that both his daughters used to work at Mou's house – one for seven years and the deceased for a year and a half.

"I visited them three months ago and my daughter [who passed away] told me that her employer would torture her often. I wanted to take her home but the woman demanded money from me, saying my daughter killed a pet bird and damaged things in her home. I could neither give her money nor take my daughter home then.

"Around 7:00am on Sunday, the employer called me and told me my daughter was sick. I came to Dhaka that very night and asked to see my daughter. The woman than told me she died due to illness."

He further said, "She forbade me to report the incident to anyone and even offered me Tk 70,000 and a house in Savar. I wanted to see my daughter's body but she did not allow it."

Finding no other way, the father then contacted 999 and sought help to find his daughter's body.

"Police later recovered the body from the van."

He also alleged that the woman forbade his elder daughter, who is now with him, from telling anyone about the incident.