Female 'pir' finally lands in jail
The female 'pir' whose treatment claimed life of a young girl in Sylhet city on Friday was sent to jail yesterday.
The girl, Syeda Marufa Rifat, 20, died and two of her family members fell sick after taking "blessed water" and other treatments for healing from the pir (spiritual healer), Tohura Begum.
Rab on Saturday arrested Tohura in connection with a case filed by the victim's maternal uncle Shafayet Ahmed Chowdhury. After preliminary quizzing, Rab handed her over to Sylhet Kotwali police.
Tofura had gone into hiding after Rifat's death news spread in the city. Rab personnel arrested her while she was going home at Rainagar in an auto-rickshaw Saturday afternoon.
Tohura's daughter Nazma Begum and son-in-law Nurul Islam were arrested hours after the incident. Police yesterday produced the two along with Tahura in the Judicial Magistrate's Court that sent them to jail.
Rifat's mother Siddiqua and maternal uncle Ishtiaque Chowdhury, who fell sick after taking "blessed water" and other treatments from the pir, are now undergoing treatment at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College and Hospital.
All the three fell sick after taking 'blessed water' and other treatments from the self-claimed pir at her rented house at Rainagar in the city on Thursday night. They were taken to Osmani Medical College and Hospital where the doctors declared Rifat dead.
Syeda Marufa Rifat hailed from Bhadeshwar in Golapganj upazila. Daughter of late Abdul Mukit, Rifat was living with her mother Siddiqua Akhtar Chowdhury and two brothers at a house on Electric Supply Road in the city's Ambarkhana area.
Sources said Rifat passed the HSC examination this year and was about to be admitted to a private university.
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