Inside the Gaibandha District Jail, a female inmate was allegedly tortured by a prison guard after she stripped another woman of her clothes and tied her hands and feet for 'seeing illegal activities'. In order to keep the incident a secret, threats of death and disgrace are being given. The incident is being investigated after the complaint.
The victim is an under trail prisoner (UTP), 34 of Chou Pukuria village of Birganj upazila of Dinajpur district. She has been in Gaibandha jail for almost 5 years in a drug case.
Describing the horrific incident inside the Gaibandha District Jail, the mother of the victim utp has filed a written complaint with the Deputy Commissioner of Gaibandha to take better medical care, necessary measures to save life and dignity and to take legal action against the torturers. A copy of that complaint has been received by Barta24.com.
The accused in the incident are Gaibandha Jail Chief Warden (Subedar) Ashraful Islam and female inmate Meghla Khatun. Apart from this, the other accused are female prisoners Rehena and Alefah. Prison guards Tahmina, Shabana, CID Anees and Habildar Mustafa.
In the complaint given to the Deputy Commissioner on April 16, it is mentioned that UTP (34) has been in Gaibandha District Jail for almost 5 years in a case. A few days ago, during his stay in the jail, Subedar Ashraful Islam, who was working in Gaibandha District Jail, "saw illegal activities" between another female inmate. Because of this, Subedar Ashraful and the female inmate became angry with the victim and if she told anyone about the incident, they started showing fear and threats that she would be killed by suicide or died of heart attack inside the prison. It is alleged that the victim UTP repeatedly told them (Subedar Ashraful and the female inmate) not to tell anyone about the incident, but Subedar Ashraful and the female inmate were allegedly mentally torturing the victim in various ways inside the jail.
Apart from this, Subedar Ashraful tried to molest the victim several times by pulling her hands and her clothes, teasing her with bad proposals on different dates and times to hold her hostage. After failing to fulfill the wishes of Subedar Ashraful despite various temptations, her associates called the victim UTP’s husband to Gaibandha Jail. It is mentioned in the complaint that the accused broke up the family of the victim UTP by giving false and offensive information against her.
When the victim Hajti informed the Jail Superintendent about these incidents, Subedar Ashraful claimed that the Jailer is his man, he (Subedar) has transferred the Jailer to this jail by spending his own money. The district showed intimidation and threats claiming that he (Subedar) could not be prosecuted. At one point in the afternoon of March 20 this year, under the leadership of Subedar Ashraful, women prisoners Meghla Khatun, Rehena, Alefah and prison guards Tahmina and Sabana systematically beat Seema with sticks on her head, waist, chest, back, knees of both legs and other parts of her body in the inner balcony of the women's unit of the district jail. . Female inmate Meghla allegedly bit the victim's right arm and tore off the flesh.
Not only that, Subedar Ashraful, CID Anis and Habildar Mostafa gong entered the women's unit of the jail, dragged the victim out from the balcony of the women's unit, took her inside the cell, put on handcuffs and tied both her legs with a rope and stripped her naked with a stick on the sensitive parts of her body (two thighs). ), began to beat on the feet. At that time, the torturers threatened once again that if any of these incidents were revealed outside the prison, the victim UTP would be beaten to death and claimed to have died of a heart attack.
The complaint also mentioned that the mother of the victim UTP went to Gaibandha Jail several times to meet her daughter but was not allowed to meet her daughter. Finally, when the victim went to the court on the date of court appearance, the mother met the daughter. On that day, the victim UTP gave a harrowing account of the incident to the mother and showed the marks of injuries on various parts of the body.
When asked about these allegations, Ashraful Islam, the alleged chief Warden of Gaibandha District Jail, told Barta24.com on mobile phone, "I am not involved in the matter." I don't know why my name is coming up. The incident was a month ago. He claimed that the incident was during the duty of Mustafa, another chief Warden here. But I don't know why my name is there.
Barta24.com could not get his statement even though the current prison guard mentioned the name of the previous chief prison guard, Mustafa.
When asked about the complaint, the other accused female prison guard Tahmina Akhtar told Barta24.com on mobile phone that the complaint is completely false. Allegations have been made stating the opposite of what happened that day. At that time, he claimed that this prisoner made these false allegations with the help of a female prison guard named Arefin and her husband.
Besides, this prisoner is accused in several cases and in most cases there are several complaints and cases against him for raising hands on the administration. Jailer Tahmina also claimed that a woman named Shabana raised her hand on the Jailer on the day of the incident.
Javed Mehdi, Jail superintendent of Gaibandha prison, told Barta24.com that the ADM came to investigate yesterday. A report is being prepared against everyone involved in the incident.
In response to a question, he said that a matter has arisen between the parties and the opposition regarding the inside of the prison which cannot be said over the phone. However, action is being taken against everyone involved in the incident.
Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Md. Moshiur Rahman told Barta24.com that I investigated the matter after receiving the complaint. I will submit the investigation report to the Deputy Commissioner very soon. After that, the District Administration will take necessary action against those involved.