9 arbitrators held on HC premises

Police arrested nine people of Habiganj in connection with a village arbitration that led to a woman jumping in front of a train with her children.
All nine were arrested on the High Court premises in the capital yesterday after they left a courtroom complying with the High Court's summon. The court on August 16 issued a suo moto order summoning them.
Ferdausi Akhter, 35, jumped in front of a train with her four children in Madhabpur upazila on August 15, a day after the nine arrestees during a village arbitration slandered her with accusations of having an affair and asked her to leave the village. Her six-year-old son Jibon and eight-year-old daughter Bonya died with her.
The surviving two children are critically injured and undergoing treatment at Brahmanbaria Sadar Hospital.
Ferdausi's husband Jilon Mia is an expatriate worker in Saudi Arabia.
On August 16, the High Court bench in the order summoned the nine arbitrators including Atiqur Rahman, chairman of Andiura union of Madhabpur in Habiganj, and three officers of Madhabpur Police Station to explain their roles in the tragedy.
The court had also asked police to file a case against the people involved in the arbitration in connection with provoking suicide.
Yesterday, the bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore ordered police to arrest the nine as soon as they leave the courtroom.
The nine arrestees are: Atiqur Rahman, Tapan Dey, Mohabbat Khan, Molai Mian, Abdur Rahman Chowdhury, Fazlur Rahman Chowdhury, Abdur Rahim, Mohammad Ali, and Furup Mian.
Mainul Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of Madhabpur Police Station, earlier yesterday told the court that they arrested five others in connection with Ferdausi's suicide.