Condition of 11-year-old child tortured in Dhaka critical, needs advanced treatment

The physical condition of the 11-year-old child from Khagrachhari who was subjected to long-term torture while working as a domestic worker at a house in Dhaka is critical. Doctors have advised giving advanced treatment on an urgent basis to the child undergoing treatment at hospital with marks of torture on various parts of the body. Police have arrested an accused couple in this incident.

The child was admitted to Khagrachhari Modern District Sadar Hospital around 3am last Friday night. As there was no bed in the hospital, treatment was being given on the floor until now. The child was shifted there after a cabin became vacant on Thursday.

Going to the hospital it was seen that the child’s grandmother, over 60, is with the child. The child’s father has gone to Dhaka to take legal measures. Looking at the granddaughter lying in the cabin the grandmother was repeatedly bursting into tears.

She said, “We are poor people. We sent the motherless granddaughter to work at a people’s house in the hope that she would get food by working. But they have sent the granddaughter half-dead. The doctor has said to take her to Chittagong for better treatment. We do not even have money for food. How will we take her to Chittagong.”

Residential Medical Officer of Khagrachhari District Modern Hospital Ripol Bappy Chakma said there are marks of long-term torture on the child’s body. The child’s body has become extremely weak due to remaining hungry for a long time and the torture. The physical condition is very critical. Advanced treatment is needed on an urgent basis to save the child. The hospital doctors are trying as much as possible.

Police said the Dhaka couple Morsheda Akter, 38, and her husband Saifuddin Rasel, 48, have been arrested on the charge of torturing the child. They were arrested while hiding in a house on Green Road in Kalabagan of Dhaka on Tuesday evening. Later they were sent to jail through the court.

Officer-in-Charge of Kafrul Police Station Md Saiful Islam informed that the child’s father filed a case as the complainant against the accused couple under the child torture law on Wednesday afternoon.

The child’s home is in Matiranga upazila of Khagrachhari. The father is a day labourer and the mother has died. Due to scarcity in the household the father sent the daughter to work as a domestic worker in Dhaka about one and a half years ago. At that time the child was a fourth-grade student of a madrasa.

The child’s father informed that he did not know where the daughter was being taken or at whose house she would be kept. The daughter was sent to Dhaka through neighbour Tofazzal Hossain. Tofazzal had assured him that the girl would be well and would also get the opportunity to study alongside work.

According to the child’s statement, at first she was kept with a woman at a house near Trunk Road Boro Mosque in Feni town. Later that woman sent her to her sister’s house in Dhaka. At that house in Purba Sheorapara under Kafrul Police Station of Mirpur in Dhaka the house owner was Rasel and the housewife was Morsheda Akter, known as Choton.

The child alleged that torture started on her from the time of going to that house. She was beaten even for minor mistakes. Hot iron was used to burn various parts of the body. The housewife and her daughter used to beat her. Most of the day she was locked in the toilet and was not given proper food either. The child alleged that she was tortured in this way almost every day for more than one year. During this time she was not allowed to talk to her father even once.

The father did not know about all these tortures after sending the daughter to Dhaka. It has been alleged that the child’s head and chin were seriously injured a few days ago. Later she was sent from Dhaka to Feni Sadar Hospital. Getting the news her father went to Feni. From there he reached Khagrachhari Modern District Sadar Hospital with the daughter late last Friday night.

Doctors have now said advanced treatment is needed to prevent the rapid deterioration of the child’s physical condition. However, the relatives are worried about arranging that treatment as the family does not have the financial capacity.