Biman CEO Shafiqur, wife, 2 others arrested in case over abuse of 11-yr-old domestic worker

Police have arrested four people, including Biman Bangladesh Airlines Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Md Shafiqur Rahman and his wife Bithi, in a case filed over the abuse of an 11-year-old domestic worker.

Uttara West Police Station personnel carried out the arrests around 3:30am today (2 February) from their residence in Uttara Sector 9 of the capital, confirmed Deputy Commissioner (DC) Muhammad Talebur Rahman of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's (DMP) Media and Public Relations Division.

Uttara West Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Kazi Md Rafiq Ahmed told The Business Standard that allegations had been brought against Shafiqur, his wife, and two domestic workers for brutally abusing the underage domestic worker.

Police identified the two other workers as Rupali Khatun and Sufia Begum.

OC Rafiq said the victim's father, Mostafa, filed the case under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act with the police, leading to the arrests.

Later in the afternoon, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Raju Ahmed ordered that the four be sent to jail after they were presented before his court in the case, pending investigation into the alleged brutal torture, confirmed Uttara West police Sub-Inspector and case investigating officer Robel Mia.

According to the case documents, the plaintiff, a hotel employee, became acquainted with Jahangir, the security guard of the house of Shafiqur and his wife Bithi. Jahangir informed the plaintiff that the couple living in the house where he worked as a security guard were looking for a young girl to take care of their child. The plaintiff later met the couple, who said that they would bear all expenses, including marriage, for the girl they would employ. Agreeing to this, the plaintiff placed his daughter Mohana in their household in June last year. 

The last time the father saw the 11-year-old child in good health was on 2 November last year at that house. After that, however, the accused did not allow the child to meet her family, according to the case documents. 

On 31 January, Bithi called the child's father and told him that his daughter was ill and asked him to take her back. The father then went to bring his daughter. At around 7pm, a woman named Sathi handed over the child to the plaintiff. At that time, the plaintiff saw that his daughter had serious injuries on both hands and various other parts of her body. The girl was also unable to speak properly. When Sathi was asked about the cause, she could not give a satisfactory answer. 

The father then admitted his daughter to Gazipur Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital. Upon questioning, the girl stated that since 2 November, after her father last visited her, Shafiqur, Bithi, and other unidentified accused had repeatedly assaulted her without reason and had severely injured her by heating a metal ladle over fire and burning different parts of her body.

Following the incident, the father filed the case at Uttar West Police Station on charges of torture.

Earlier, on 4 September 2024, Biman appointed Shafiqur as MD and CEO.

Shafiqur joined Biman as a trainee commercial officer in 1986. He later served the national flag carrier as director of Administration and Human Resources, director of Procurement and Logistics Support, and director of Marketing and Sales.

He also worked in the tariff, market research, reservation, cargo, and other departments of the national flag carrier.

Besides, he served as the country manager of Biman in Singapore, Thailand, and Greece stations. He retired in 2017 after a long career.