Abandoned at morgue for 4yrs, court orders burial of converted girl

The High Court today ordered the authorities concerned of the government to bury the dead body of a converted Muslim girl as per Islami Shariah rituals.

Lita Rani Roy, daughter of Akshay Kumar Roy of Domar Upazila in Niphamari, converted herself to Islam taking on the name Hosne Ara and married Humayun Farid Laju, son of Zahurul Islam of the same upazila, in October 2013.

After the marriage, they faced tremendous social pressure and killed themselves by taking poison on separate dates in 2014.

Since then, the body of Hosne Ara has been kept in a Rangpur mortuary for around four and a half years due to legal tangles.

The executive magistrate concerned of Nilphamari has been asked to take steps to bury Hosne Ara in assistance of the police and to allow the parents of Hosne Ara to see the burial.

The HC bench of Justice Miftah Uddin Choudhury passed the order after hearing a revision petition filed by Zahurul Islam seeking its order so that her burial custody body is given to him.

Deputy Attorney General Shaikh AKM Moniruzzaman Kabir told The Daily Star that Lita’s (now Hosne Ara) father Akshay Kumar Roy filed a case with Nilphamari Nari O Shishu Nirjaton Daman Adalot (Women and Children Repression Prevention Court) against Humayun Faird Laju on October 28, 2013 on charge of kidnapping his daughter.

In the case, Akshay claimed that his daughter was not adult and she was mentally disordered.

After hearing statements of Hosne Ara and Humayun Farid and examining the relevant papers and documents, the court dismissed the case.

Akshay Kumar later on filed an appeal with another Nilphamari court against the dismissal order, he said.

The court sent Hosne Ara to the Rajshahi Safe Home for detecting her mental and physical condition.

On January 15, 2014, her husband Humayun Farid Laju committed suicide by taking poison when Hosne Ara was in the Safe Home.

Akshay Kumar took his daughter (Hosne Ara) to his home on January 16, 2014.

On March 10, 2014, Hosne Ara committed suicide by taking poison. A post mortem was conducted on her body at the Nilphamari morgue on March 11, 2014.

Later on, her body was kept in the Rangpur mortuary under the social welfare ministry in following a court order, Akshay’s lawyer Advocate Samir Majumder told The Daily Star.

In continuation of the case, Nilphamari’s joint district judge’s court has ordered for handover of the body of Hosne Ara to her father’s custody and completing her burial in Hindu rituals.

Hosne Ara’s father-in-law Zahurul Islam recently filed the revision petition with the HC against the Nilphamari’s joint district judge’s court order.