Oishee Rahman, daughter of slain special branch police inspector Mahfuzur Rahman and his wife Shapna Rahman, and their domestic help, Shumi, were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, on Wednesday, to determine their biological age. Oishee and Shumi were taken to DMCH in a special car of the Detective Branch Police at 2: 45 pm. Some tests were performed on them at the forensic department and the hospital’s emergency unit, to figure out their biological age. Afterwards, they were brought back to the DB office around 4:45 pm.
Shajahan Shiraj, an assistant at the X-ray department, told The Independent, “We have performed X-ray tests of Oishee and Shumi”.
Sohel Mahmudh, assistant professor of the forensic department, told The Independent, “After getting all the reports, we’ll be able to determine the age of Oishee and Shumi. It would take about seven days”.
Oishee was taken to DMCH after a Dhaka Court accepted a petition filed by the investigating officer of the murder case of Mahfuzur Rahman and Shapna Rahman on Tuesday. Mohammad Shahidullah Prodhan, the investigating officer and also the sub-inspector of Paltan Police Station, submitted the petition stating that Oishee and Shumi need to be taken to DMCH for age identification tests.
Metropolitan magistrate Tanvir Ahmed passed the order to determine actual age of Oishee. Gaffar Chowdhury, general recording officer (GRO) of the court, told The Independent that the petition was filed following media reports mentioning that the police remand of Oishee was a violation of the Children Act.
Earlier, different human rights personalities, including Human Rights Commission chairman Mizanur Rahman, criticised the rules, saying that the five-day police remand of Oishee was violation of the Children Rights Act.
Monirul Islam, joint-commissioner of the DB Police, told The Independent that the Children Rights Act became effective from August 21 and Oishee was taken on custody on August 17, so there was no violation of the relevant law. “However, we’ve sent her to DMCH to determine her actual age,” he added.
Advocate Prokash Ranjan Biswas, counsel of Oishee, filed a petition on Wednesday, asking the authorities to stop the social harassment of Oishee by disclosing remand information to the media. According to the Information Right Act 2009, Section 7, the police have no right to disclose the information that an accused may give to the investigating officer while in police custody, he said.
He also said that such kind of information may a bias against the accused, which was exactly happening with Oishee Rahman.
After filing the petition, metropolitan magistrate Bikash Kumar Saha transferred the hearing to the court of metropolitan magistrate Mizanur Rahman and fixed the date of hearing for Thursday.
Moinrul Islam said that they are conducting drives at different areas of the capital to arrest Jony and Saidul, two of Oishee’s friends. An officer of the department said they were giving out information about the duo in port and border areas, to prevent them from leaving the country.
-With The Independent input
