Minni wants to withdraw statement

Aysha Siddika Minni. File photo

Aysha Siddika Minni, who was allegedly forced to confess her involve-ment in the murder of her husband Rifat Sharif, wants to withdraw her previous statement and submit a new one.  

Minni’s lawyer Mahbubul Bari Aslam, also general secretary of Barguna District Lawyers’ Association, made the disclosure after meeting her at Barguna jail yesterday. 

“I said what police asked me to say. I did not say anything in the confes-sional statement on my own and not a single word of it was true.

“Police forced and tortured me,” Mahmudul Bari Aslam quoted his client Minni as saying.

The district police declined to comment on the claim yesterday. 

They said that they did not have any role in recording the confessional statement. The district magistrate personally took consent of the victim before recording her statement under section 164, said police.

Bhuban Chandra Howlader, public prosecutor of Barguna court, also re-fused to comment on the matter, saying that it was under investigation. 

“I found Minni sick and unable to walk properly. She told me that she had aches all over her body,” said the lawyer, adding, “Minni also complained that she was not able to sleep at night and was psychologically disturbed due to the shock of losing her husband.

“It is evident that she is in immediate need of psychological and physical treatment,” he said. 

To withdraw her previous statement, Minni first needs to apply to the jail authority, after which they would take the necessary action. 

About the illness, Anowar Hossain, jail superintendent of Barguna jail, said Minni was under observation of a nurse and if necessary they would arrange a doctor. 

Rifat, 25, was hacked to death by a group of men on June 26 in Barguna. A video footage of the murder shows Minni trying to save her husband.

Police have so far arrested 15 suspects, including Minni, over the murder. 

The prime accused Sabbir Hossain Nayan, also known as Nayan Bond, was killed in a “gunfight” with police on July 2 in Barguna.

The case took a different turn after Minni’s arrest on July 16, after she was questioned for 13 hours at Barguna Police Lines. 

A Barguna court placed her on a five-day remand the next day.

No lawyer represented her at the time, and her father claimed local lawyers did not take the case because they were influenced and threatened by some politicians.

Also yesterday, Minni’s father Mozammel Hossain demanded the Rifat murder investigation be transferred from the district police to the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) for a “fair” investigation.

“By framing Minni in the case, Barguna police are trying to hide some in-fluential quarters’ involvement in the killing,” he told a press briefing at the Barguna Press Club yesterday. 

He urged the prime minister, home minister and inspector general of po-lice  to transfer the case to the PBI as he “had no faith in Barguna police anymore”.

“Minni was forced by police to give the confessional statement in order to save the real culprits,” he said. 

He alleged that his entire family was suffering from insecurity. The edu-cation of his two other children was also stopped due to it, he said.

“The police have turned Minni from number one witness to an accused,” Mozammel added.

Meanwhile, Abdul Motaleb Mirdha, joint secretary of the district Awami League, said they wanted punishment of the masterminds and patrons of the Bond gang.

“People who gave shelter to the Bond group should also be punished,” he said while addressing a law and order meeting at the district commis-sioner’s office yesterday.