A 22-year-old housewife committed suicide reportedly following continuous torture by her husband for dowry at Moghbazar in
Dhaka Sunday night, the police said.
The victim, Rita Rani Das, a college student, resided at a house beside Boro Moghbazar Mosque along with her husband Ashis Chandra Das, a college teacher.
Her husband Ashis, however, said to the police that Rita committed suicide as she failed in the recent HSC examination.
‘She had been keeping her HSC result secret to her husband. As her husband wanted the transcript of her examination result for admission purpose, she failed to show it to him and committed suicide out of humiliation,’ the investigation officer said, quoting Ashis.
But, Rita’s family alleged that she had committed suicide following continuous torture by her husband over dowry money.
Rita’s cousin Ashit Chandra Das said that Rita’s family gave Tk 2 lakh in dowry to their son-in-law recently, but her husband used to torture Rita, demanding more money to open a computer shop for extra income.
Rita was married to Ashis three years ago and they did not have any children.
The investigation officer, Abdul Jalil, suspected she might have committed suicide as she found her husband having extra-marital affairs.
‘We found a slip with her which make us suspicious on the ground. We sent the call list of her husband’s cell phone to the detective branch to verify the issue,’ Jalil said.
The police recovered the body at about 11:30pm on Sunday and sent it to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for autopsy.
Following a petition, a city court on Monday allowed police to take the accused, Ashis, on remand for a day.
According to rights watchdog Odhikar, 328 women were victim of dowry-related violence including killing and brutal torture in between January and October.
