Editorial
Derailing Hena's case
High Court steps in
The HC in a suo moto order based on a Daily Star report asked for exhumation of Hena's body to ascertain the exact causes of her death. A three- member committee is to do a fresh autopsy.
At first it was death due to lashing, a brazenly illegal act that was, surprisingly, carried out in public but without the law enforcers or any of the members of the administration or the public making any effort to stop the uncivilized and brutal act. And now, it seems that everything is being done, through collusion, to ensure that the rapist and those that passed the 'sentence' get off free.
The follow-up report in this newspaper on the death of Hena of Shariatpur, who died of trauma suffered due to injuries caused by the lashing, is highly disconcerting. It discloses the obnoxious and odious link between the criminals and the powerful to distort and derail the course of justice.
For example, it seems highly improbable that the trained eye of the police, which would under all circumstances discover even a tell-tale sign of injury would miss injury marks on the body of a victim who was reportedly whipped no less than 50 times, and such marks are more than superficial. But the police have apparently missed that since there is no mention of it in the inquest report. The police have too, reportedly, distorted the FIR by including things that were not stated by the complainant. Even the place of occurrence has been recorded wrongly.
Another perplexing matter is that not even the post-mortem report mentions of injury marks on Hena's body. Given the nature of the punishment perpetrated on the girl, it will leave injury even under the skin which, according to forensic experts, no post-mortem report can miss. But the doctors who conducted the post-report failed to notice.
What is equally alarming is the role of a member of the union parishad who not only held the arbitration closed-door but also prevented the family members from taking Hena to the hospital immediately, and put pressure on them to get her out of the hospital.
We feel that there is a great miscarriage of justice in the making, which should not be allowed to happen. And those that have colluded to spoil the case be punished.
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