<i>Little girl brutalised</i>
Ten-year-old Romela Khatun carries on her body the signs of brutality. Photo: STAR
Riaz Uddin had no knowledge of what had befallen his 10-year-old daughter Romela Khatun since she went to Chittagong to work as domestic help at the home of a police official in April this year. Six months later, it was a big shock to him, when he met Romela on Tuesday, to find that there were deep marks of torture on nearly every spot on her body. An anguished Riaz Uddin got her admitted to Pabna Medical College Hospital on Thursday. According to Riaz, Romela had been working for Shahed Ali, sub-inspector of Sitakunda Police Station. Since the beginning, Shahed's wife Sweety Begum had tortured the girl on various pretexts. Romela said about three weeks ago, Sweety pushed her into hot water as she had failed to carry out her instructions. The brutality soon increased. Sweety pressed a hot spoon against the back of the girl several times. The sub-inspector and his wife never bothered about any medical care for the wretched girl, who was living far away from her parents residing in Kashinathpur Gotanga village in Santhia upazila, Pabna. On the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha, the sub-inspector came to his in-laws' home at Verakola in Bera upazila of the district. Only then could Riaz Uddin get to know of Romela's misery. Dr Fairoz at Pabna Medical College Hospital said critical burn marks were almost all over Romela's body. They would take a long time to heal, he said, adding that the marks were so deep that they would never completely go away. Romela's mother Saleha Khatun said, "I want exemplary punishment for the family of the police official (SI Shahed Ali)". Riaz Uddin tried to sue Shahed, but failed. Santhia police said they could not register any case, as the place of occurrence lay in another district. The Superintendent of Police (SP) of Pabna, Jahangir Hossain Matubbar, visited Romela at the hospital last evening and directed Santhia police to take the case and transfer it to Sitakunda Police Station. He also informed Chittagong police of the incident and requested action against SI Shahed. Shahed Ali, however, denied that he and his wife had tortured Romela. He said the girl had received the injuries in a rickshaw accident about three weeks ago.
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