<i>A sad tale of another hapless dowry victim</i>

7 March 2009, 18:00 PM

A correspondent, Meherpur

Victim of savagery allegedly for dowry, Lucky being treated for burn injuries at Meherpur General Hospital.Photo: STAR

With serious burn injuries allegedly inflicted by dowry-greedy husband, 16-year-old Lucky is now fighting for life at Meherpur General Hospital. “My husband Jamal and his family members poured combustible liquid on my body and set fire when I was collecting water from a tube-well in front of our house on Wednesday evening,” Lucky told journalists at hospital. Lucky, daughter of Yusuf Ali of village Anandabas under Mujibnagar upazila in Meherpur district, married her neighbour Jamal nine months ago but Jamal's family did not accept the marriage, she said. Lucky is a student of class nine of Anandabas High School and Jamal works as a peon at another high school in the village. Later Jamal's family demanded two bighas of land as dowry but Lucky's family is too poor to meet the demand. As Jamal and his family members started torturing Lucky and pressing her family for the land, Lucky filed a case against Jamal with a Meherpur court under Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, she said. After getting bail recently, Jamal gave a threat to Lucky and her family, she alleged. Sitting beside Lucky's hospital bed, her mother Khadiza Begum looked broken as they do not have the ability to bear the expenses for treatment. Journalists saw other people at the hospital offering help to mange medicine and food for the poor girl.