<i>Another tale of brutality in the name of arbitration</i>
A housewife and her husband became victim of brutalities by a few locals following a so-called village arbitration that brought allegation of adultery against the woman at Shalki-Santoshpara village in Sankerpur union under Dinajpur Sadar upazila.
The victim, Nurnahar Begum, wife of Moksedur Rahman of Shalki-Santoshpara village, filed a case with Dinajpur police station accusing several people including Abdul Latif, Rafiqul Islam, Aminul Islam, Rashed Mia, Shakhawat Islam, Shafiqul Islam and Md Solaiman on Friday evening.
Six to eight men including Rafiqul Islam, Aminul Islam, Rashed Mia, Shakhawat Islam and Shafiqul Islam picked up the couple from their residence on September 23 afternoon, said locals.
Afterwards, a few villagers arranged arbitration on the ground of Shalki-Santoshpara Government Primary School led by Md Abdul Latif, a member of Sankerpur union parisahd (UP), locals said, adding that Aklima Begum, a woman UP member of the same ward, was also present there.
The one and a half hour long arbitration declared the woman 'guilty' and asked the members to lash the couple. The arbitration also fined her Tk 2 lakh.
"Then they confined me and my husband to a room of the school and lashed us, tying our hands and legs. Early morning, the members of the arbitration let my husband go, but continued torturing me there, keeping me at the school room," said the victim woman.
"They beat me with bamboo sticks. Rafiqul Islam and Md Solaiman cut my hair in presence of public on Monday (Sept 24) as punishment for failure to pay off Tk 2 lakh fine. Then they reduced the fine to Tk 30,000 and sternly asked me to pay the amount within 24 hours. As we failed, the arbitration members took away two cattle from our house and kept those at the house of Md Shahidul Islam upon instruction of Abdul Latif. As the incident became known in the area on Thursday, they returned our cattle," said the woman.
"They tortured us in name of rural arbitration, claiming that they saw a man of the area enter our house compound on the night of September 22," said Nurnahar's husband Moksedur Rahman.
Contacted, UP member Abdul Latif admitted that he was present at the arbitration.
He, however, claimed that there was no decision to beat the woman or cut her hair.
Despite several attempts, this correspondent failed to contact UP member Aklima Begum as nobody received the call made to her cell phone.
Md Aslam Iqbal, officer in charge of Dinajpur police station, confirmed the incident of village arbitration and torture on the couple.
"But we could not arrest any of the accused in the case," he said.
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