Of unspoken horrors
During her five days at the hospital, the little girl could not utter a single word, but the bruises on her body and tears rolling down her cheeks bore testament of the unspeakable horror she had gone through.
The unidentified girl, about 11 years of age, finally lost the battle for life early yesterday at the Intensive Care Unit of Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH).
Lying unconscious by the road with her mouth, hands and legs tied in the port city's Kattoli embankment area on January 23 evening, she was found by locals. Upon information, police rescued her and admitted her to CMCH the same night, where she had been undergoing treatment.
During primary investigation and from circumstantial evidence, police suspect that she had been physically tortured for a long time, and might have been raped. Taking the issue into cognizance, police has already filed a rape case against unidentified miscreants with Akbar Shah Police Station.
Sub-Inspector (SI) Nurul Alam of Akbar Shah Police Station, who rescued the girl, told The Daily Star “A woman told police that the girl was thrown out of a black car. Her mouth, hands and legs were tied with a scarf and she was unconscious.”
SI Nurul Alam said during rescue, police found multiple bruises on her neck, thighs and hands; a finger on her right hand was broken.
“During primary investigation, police found signs of rape and physical torture. So I filed a case accusing unidentified miscreants,” said the SI.
Judging by her appearance, it seemed that she might have been a domestic help, said the SI, adding that police were trying to find out her identity by circulating her photo to other police stations and social media.
Hospital sources said CMCH administration formed a medical board on Saturday consisting six senior doctors for the girl's treatment.
“She was admitted first to CMCH medical ward no.14, and later shifted to the One-Stop Crisis Centre (OCC). We received the girl at around 11pm [on January 23] and started treatment immediately,” said Dr Rivu Raj Chakraborty, senior consultant of Causality Ward of CMCH.
“She was almost unconscious. After examining her, we confirmed that she was being physically abused for a long time. Injury marks were found on her breast and thigh,” said Dr Chakraborty, adding that they have collected samples of vaginal swab and DNA of the girl.
The doctor also said the medical board agreed that she had been suffering from severe septicaemia (blood poisoning) along with shock due to non-accidental injury.
“We tried to regain her consciousness, but she cried silently when she opened her eyes only for few minutes every time,” Dr Chakraborty said.
Preferring to be unnamed, a doctor of the ICU who looked after the girl told The Daily Star, “The infection on her body spread to different organs through infection in blood, which led to multiple organ failure.”
“We tried to treat her with different medications, but unfortunately her body did not respond to any of those, and she died of cardiac arrest Monday morning,” the doctor said.
CMCH Police Outpost Inspector Jahirul Islam told The Daily Star the body was sent to CMCH morgue for autopsy.
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