Tortured Shefali's newborn baby dies

The newborn premature baby of torture victim Shefali Begum died at Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RMCH) on Wednesday evening.

Shefali Begum, 32, who was tortured at Uttar Baishpukur village in Dimla upazila on last Friday, was admitted to the hospital on Saturday in a traumatised condition.

As she felt a strong labour pain, a caesarean was conducted on her and she gave birth to a daughter on Monday afternoon.

“After its birth, the premature and underweight baby was kept in intensive care unit (ICU) but the baby girl died within two days, foiling all the efforts of doctors and nurses,” said Lovely Begum, a nurse of gynaecology department in RMCH.

“The baby, born nine weeks before the usual delivery time, weighed only 900 gram and showed various signs of complexities,” said gynecologist Prof Ferdousi Sultana, who monitored the surgery at the hospital.

Shefali Begum said she was severely tortured after being tied to a mango tree over a family feud on Friday afternoon as Abdul Kader, president of ward No-4 unit of Awami League (AL) in Khalisha Chapani union of Dimla upazila, ordered his men to do so.

Police later rescued the victim from the spot.

Moni Akhtar, the victim's younger sister, said their father was killed by some local men in 2012 who forcibly grabbed their land and regarding this a murder case is running with the District and Sessions Judge's Court in Nilphamari.

“The accused were very close to AL leader Kader and the latter was putting pressure on Shefali to settle the matter outside the court, which she turned down. Angered by this, he ordered his men to torture Shefali,” she said.

The victim's maternal uncle Shahidul Islam filed a case regarding the matter accusing 19 people including the AL leader and police arrested three people by this time.