Village arbitrator held
A teenaged girl killed herself on Friday, failing to stand the humiliation of being flogged at a village arbitration in Madaripur Sadar upazila.
Police yesterday arrested Mohsin Akand, a former union parishad member, who led the arbitration.
Shirin Akhtar, 15, a class-10 student of Barail Bari Dakhil Madrasa in Aoj village, had an altercation with neighbour Shah Alam after her goat damaged his plants on August 16. At one stage, Shah Alam beat her up, said the victim’s brother Murtoza Sharif.
As Shirin’s mother complained to Mohsin, he and 15 other villagers including Akkas Bepari, Akkas Chowkidar and Rashid Akand held a meeting on Friday to settle the matter.
They found Shirin guilty and ordered her to touch Shah Alam’s feet and beg his pardon. As the girl protested the decision, they caned her.
Fuming over the insult, Shirin hanged herself from the ceiling of their house soon after the arbitration. She was rushed to the Madaripur Sadar Hospital where the doctor on duty declared her dead.
Police sent her body to the hospital morgue for autopsy on Friday evening.
The victim’s family has filed a case against 12 under the women and children repression prevention act, said Moniruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Madaripur Sadar Police Station.
-With The Daily Star input
