Housewife set ablaze for dowry
A teenage housewife with severe burn injuries fights for her life after her husband allegedly set her ablaze at their Tongi residence on the city's outskirts Friday.
Ismat Ara, 16, was admitted to the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital with 37 percent of her body sustaining deep burns.
Lying on a burn unit bed, Ismat said her husband Mohammad Shaheen, 25, a bus driver, poured kerosene over her body and set her on fire around 2:00pm on Friday.
Following an affair, Ismat of Ershad Nagar in Tongi got married to her neighbour Shaheen five months ago without the consent of their families.
Victim's mother Momtaj Begum alleged that Shaheen set her daughter ablaze following their failure to meet his dowry demand of Tk 1 lakh.
"After a quarrel between the couple, Shaheen set fire to Ismat and went into the bathroom to mislead the locals,” said Momtaj quoting her daughter.
“When the locals put out the fire, Shaheen came out and pretended to not know how his wife got burned."
When locals rushed Ismat to the hospital, Shaheen fled the scene, said Momtaj.
"Despite giving Shaheen various furniture worth Tk 20,000 as dowry, he had been demanding Tk 1 lakh from us."
Tongi Police Station Officer-in-Charge Ruhul Imam said police were yet to be aware of the incident as none filed any case in this connection.
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