Woman killed in the name of ‘exorcising jinn’
A mentally challenged woman was found dead in Shiddhirganj of Narayanganj at the house of a kabiraj (rural exorcist) couple who allegedly performed exorcism on her saying that a “jinn had possessed her”.
The couple -- Faruk Hossain, 45, and his wife Jesmine Begum, 35, of Chowdhurypara area -- was arrested in a case filed today with Shiddhirganj Police Station in this connection.
The deceased was identified as Shahnaj Akter Shikha, 25, daughter of Shah Alam of Saddam Market area in Dhaka.
Victim’s mother, Suraiya Begum, alleged that Faruk and his wife tortured her daughter and killed her in the name of performing exorcism.
Shikha was mentally challenged and used to forget everything, Suraiya told our Narayanganj correspondent.
She had undergone treatment by doctors previously but her condition did not improve, the victim’s mother said.
Referred by a relative, Shikha was taken to Faruk Hossain for treatment and he said Shikha was possessed by jinn, Suraiya said.
Faruk demanded Tk 10,000 claiming that he would “exorcise the jinn”, and asked for Shikha to be sent to their rented house in Shiddhirganj for the exorcism to be performed.
Shikha was sent to their house on Tuesday, June 18, Suraiya said, adding that on Wednesday Faruk made a phone call and said Shikha fell ill.
On Wednesday night, the family members went to Faruk’s house and found Shikha’s body, wrapped with a blanket.
The body of the victim bore injury marks from being hit by wooden stick or bamboo cane, said Shaheen Shah, officer-in-charge of the police station.
However, the cause of the death would be known after autopsy, the OC said, adding that the body has been sent to Narayanganj General Hospital Morgue for autopsy.
Comments