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| Bangladesh |
| Fatwa again |
| 2009-08-16 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] Police have arrested a man and are on the lookout for several others in a village in Brahmanbaria after village elders by an edict executed 101 lashes to a woman for an alleged illicit affair. The woman, Bashira Khatun, has filed a case against the men who administered the lashings on her. She told The Daily Star, "After failing to extract sexual favours from me, my husband Md Nannu Mia's uncle Manju compromised my reputation and fulfilled his revenge on me by persuading the village elders to whip me." "I was unjustly whipped for no reason in public. I want justice," sobbed Bashira as she told The Daily Star her story. Bashira's husband is an expatriate worker and she lives with her mother-in-law in Kena village under Budumti union in Brahmanbaria Sadar. She wrote in her complaint with the police that her husband's uncle Manju Mia has long been trying to take advantage of her husband's absence. After repeated failed attempts to lure her into giving him sexual advances, Manju Mia decided to punish her. On July 24, Manju Mia along with five cohorts Siraj Mia, Liton Mia, Masum Mia, and Kutubul Alam approached Bashira's room late at night. With the help of her maidservant Jaju Banu, Kutubul Alam entered her room. Manju then rushed to the scene and raised a hue and cry and the other three men came out to help him. Bashira's mother-in-law Bilatunnesa was away visiting her daughter the night of the incident. The following evening Manju Mia summoned a village arbitration to try Bashira but not Alam. During the arbitration presided by Tota Mia, a teacher of Kena Madrasa, the muazzin of the local mosque Muhammad Hossain delivered the edict or fatwa for 101 durra (lashes) on Bashira Khatun's back as a punishment. Manju Mia himself administered the lashings. Bashira collapsed and fainted after about 20 lashes while Manju administered the remaining lashes on the unconscious woman. The following day Bashira's maternal uncle Joynal Abedin rescued her from Kena village and brought her to her parental home at Bulla village for medical treatment. Traumatised and sickened by the brutal torture, it took her days to regain her strength. She decided to ignore the threats of her perpetrators and reported the incident to Brahmanbaria Sadar Thana on August 9 and filed a case accusing eight people, including Manju Mia. Police raided the village the same night but was only able to arrest Tota Mia. Manju Mia and his cohorts are absconding. Manju's homestead remains abandoned. On Thursday last week, this correspondent found muazzin Muhammad Hossain, who declared the fatwa as he was fleeing the village. As he fled, the man denied proclaiming any such edict. He said he had merely mentioned that had there been Shariah Law in the country, Bashira would have been given 101 lashes. Basira's uncle Joynal Abedin, himself a teacher of Haraspur Darul Islamia Madrasa, Md. Abdul Kaiyum Bhuiyan, principal of Kena Madrasa, chairman of Budumti Union Parishad Mizanul Islam, local Mahila Parishad leader Nandita Guha, and others have denounced the incident and called for the punishment of the culprits. Brahmanbaria Sadar Thana Officer in-Charge (OC) Rezaul Karim Bhuiyan told The Daily Star that all the absconding criminals would be arrested soon. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Ima thinking a few shutter guns to the right people can reduce enthusiasm for thuggish behaviors. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-08-16 13:02 |
| #1 Again, as in the past, let's hear it for 7th century cultural attitudes in the 21st century. A$$hole barbarians. |
| Posted by: WolfDog 2009-08-16 12:56 |