Domestic Help Torture

The High Court yesterday summoned the officer-in-charge (OC) of Lalpur Police Station in Natore to explain what action he had taken against Captain Shafiqul Islam and his wife for allegedly torturing a nine-year-old child.
The couple reportedly tortured and injured Tohidul Islam, a domestic help, of Lalpur village in Natore, in April last year at their Pallabi residence in Dhaka.
Hearing a writ petition yesterday, the HC bench of Justice M Imman Ali and Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif ordered the OC to appear before it on February 9.
The court also asked the OC of Pallabi Police Station to inform it about the whereabouts of the couple within two days.
A report was published in the daily Prothom Alo on May 3 last year saying that Shafiqul and his wife tortured Tohidul and confined him in a bathroom for three days for stealing Tk 500.
Tohidul was rescued and admitted to a Natore hospital. His mother Zohra Begum filed a general diary with Lalpur Police Station in this connection, said the report.
Advocate Fahima Nasrin filed the writ petition on behalf of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association with the HC seeking necessary directives.
In response, the HC issued a rule upon the authorities concerned including the OCs to explain why they had failed to protect the child from torture.
Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain appeared for the government.