Fake claim to avail free treatment

The Daily Star in its first edition yesterday published a report on the front page saying that six-month pregnant Shirin Akhter was seriously injured when pickets set a bus alight at Tarabo in Rupganj, Narayanganj.
The information was wrong.
It was Shirin and her family who claimed to police and journalists that she had become victim of bus arson by pro-blockade miscreants in Tarabo area.
Later it was found that Shirin had sustained 40 percent burns from a fire originated in her kitchen and that the family had resorted to lying only to avail free medical treatment.
The Daily Star in its second edition corrected the mistake.
During the day, Shirin told the media that she was a garment worker and had fallen victim of the arson on her way to work. She lives in the capital's Demra area.
Banking on this, the print and electronic media published and aired the family's version of the story in their earlier editions which was later corrected.
Around 10:30pm yesterday, Officer-in-Charge of Rupganj Police Station Asaduzzaman confirmed The Daily Star that Shirin had not been a passenger of the bus that was set ablaze in Tarabo around 8:00am and that she had sustained burn injury at home.
On receiving the update, The Daily Star talked to Shirin and her husband Al Amin at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital late on Monday. They admitted that the accident occurred in their kitchen.
Asked why they took refuge to lies, the couple said that on advice from neighbours that arson victims receive monetary compensation they had given police and journalists the false information.