'She ran away with a boy': 3 jailed after 15-year-old domestic worker's body found at DMCH
Police say the investigation found that the accused had taken Mim’s body to the hospital and left it there in an attempt to conceal her death and evade responsibility.
A Dhaka court today (21 August) sent three people to jail over the death of 15-year-old domestic worker Mim Akter, whose body was found outside the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Hasib Ullah Pias passed the order after Shahbagh Police Sub-Inspector Mahfuza Akter, the investigating officer in the case, produced the three accused before the court and sought their detention pending investigation.
The accused are Md Faisal Ahmed, 35, his wife Rahema Khatun Reshma, 29, and Reshma's father, ABM Abdur Razzak, 47.
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Police say Mim's employer, his wife and her father abandoned her body at the hospital after telling her family she had run away with another boy.
According to the case statement, Mim Akter had been working as a domestic worker at the accused's home for about a year and was regularly subjected to physical and mental abuse.
It also stated that whenever Mim phoned her relatives in tears to describe the abuse, the accused threatened and intimidated her family instead.
On the morning of 13 August, Faisal allegedly called Mim's family and claimed she had stolen money and valuables from the house before fleeing with another boy.
Four days later, on 17 August, Mim's family went to the house in search of her. When they demanded to know her whereabouts, the accused allegedly abused them and drove them away, according to the case.
Meanwhile, Shahbagh Police had recovered the body of an unidentified 15-year-old girl from outside the DMCH emergency department on 12 August. Police later identified the body using information technology.
After receiving the information from Basabo Bazar Police Station on 20 August, Mim's mother, Rabeya Begum, went to Shahbagh Police Station. Her husband, Fazlu Mia, later identified their daughter's body at the hospital.
Rabeya filed a murder case with Shahbagh Police Station today.
Police said their investigation found that the accused had taken Mim's body to the hospital and left it there in an attempt to conceal her death and evade responsibility.
Investigators also said that the family reportedly abandoned their flat in Sanarpar, where they had lived for nearly 20 years, and went into hiding in the Baimail area of Demra.
Police arrested the three accused during a raid in Baimail around 1:30pm today.
