Abuse behind her suicide attempt

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Afrin Sultana, who suffered 90 percent burns as she doused herself with kerosene and set on fire on Friday, is now on her deathbed at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Police arrested her husband Mahbub Alam Rony after her father Ataur Rahman filed a case with Bangshal Police Station against Rony and his parents under Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.

Ataur Rahman quoted Afrin as saying that she put herself on fire following a row with her mother-in-law Friday evening.

He said she was cooking that evening and had her husband bring a battery-run table fan from another room of their house since the power went off. That infuriated Afrin's mother-in-law Halima Khatun and she hurled insulting words at Afrin.

After Afrin set her ablaze, Rony rushed to her and tried to put out the fire, doing himself 15 percent burn injuries. He was also admitted to DMCH.

Afrin, 24, was married to Rony in January this year following an affair. Her father told The Daily Star that since the marriage her husband and mother-in-law had been torturing her as Rony was a law student of a private university and had no income. They were dependent on Rony's parents for their family expenses, Ataur Rahman added.

Bangshal Police Chief Abdul Mannan said police had shown Rony arrested in connection with the incident.

The victim's younger brother Yasin Arafat Tusher said that after the marriage Afrin's in-laws on different occasions hinted about dowry.

Afrin's family demanded the arrest of those responsible and their trial.

Yasin said Afrin appeared in the SSC examinations this year from Collegiate School under the SSC programme of the Open University.