‘Papia tortures woman in prison’

Incarcerated former Jubo Mohila League leader Shamima Nur Papia along with jail guards and some inmates allegedly tortured a woman in prison, leaving her in a critical condition.

The victim's brother made the allegations in a complaint filed with the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Gazipur on June 25.

Victim Runa Laila, 38, is now in Gazipur Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital. The authorities of Kashimpur Women's Central Jail also denied her adequate treatment following the incident, claimed Runa's family.

They said the authorities tried to hide the incident and even made a woman call Runa's brother pretending to be her.

Runa's brother Abdul Karim in his complaint said he learnt that Runa had Tk 7,700 on her which was found during a search. In order to take the money from her, Papia, along with habildars Fatema Begum and Nasima Akhtar, and inmates Sonali, Anandika, Abantika and Najma took her sister to a place where there is no CCTV coverage and tortured her.

Karim said during the torture, his sister defecated, started vomiting blood and eventually lost consciousness. When she regained her senses, she was beaten up again until she went listless.

The victim's whole body has large patches of blue-purple bruises, saw our correspondent. She is currently on oxygen support to help her breathing.

ATTEMPTED COVERUP?

Karim alleged that he went to visit his sister last on June 22 and waited for three hours after which he was told he would not be allowed to meet Runa.

He still waited around and talked to inmates coming out of the jail on bail. They told him what had happened to his sister.

He went to the prison again the next day and the jail authorities refused to let him see his sister again. They referred him to the Deputy Jailor Jannatul Tayeb.

"I asked her about my sister but she said that nothing happened to her. She, however, refused to let me see her," wrote Karim.

Tayeb agreed to let Karim talk to Runa over the phone and later in the day, he got a call from a woman claiming to be Runa. "It was not my sister. The deputy jailor was trying to deceive me," wrote Karim in the complaint.

He submitted the recorded call as evidence.

Karim then filed the complaint with the DC stating, "They may have even killed my sister inside the prison."

Two days after his complaint on June 27, Runa was given bail and she got out on June 28.

Runa had to be hospitalised immediately, her family said.

When asked about Papia, Senior Jail Superintendent (acting) Obaidur Rahman of Kashimpur Women's Central Jail said, "The woman secretly sneaked in Tk 7,400 into the prison. When the matter was found by habildars Fatema Begum, the victim misbehaved with her. Some of the other inmates got angry and slapped her. Later she was given first aid. Those who slapped her have been punished according to jail rules."

Obaidur said "A three-member investigation committee has been formed to probe the incident of torture."

The DC of Gazipur said Additional District Magistrate Humayun Kabir has been asked to probe the matter.

Papia and her husband are accused of laundering Tk 3.23 crore. The couple was arrested at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in September 2020 while trying to leave the country.