In Begumganj Upazila of Noakhali, police arrested a step-mother after injury marks were found on the body of a child during burial preparations.
On Sunday morning, the body was recovered from Khanpur village of Sharifpur Union and sent for autopsy, according to SI Shahidul Islam of Begumganj police station.
Three-year-old Sumaiya Akter was the daughter of Faisal Ahmed, a Saudi Arabia expatriate from the same village. The child used to live with her step-mother, Shiuli Akter, in a rented house in Chaumuhani Municipality.
Sumaiya’s uncle Saiful Islam said that on Saturday night, Shiuli Akter brought Sumaiya’s body to Khanpur by ambulance for burial.
Saiful said that when asked about Sumaiya’s death, Shiuli admitted to having beaten her in the afternoon. She later bathed her and put her to sleep, but found her dead in the evening. Shiuli claimed she informed her expatriate husband, and on his advice, she brought a doctor home. The doctor examined the child and confirmed her death. Following her husband’s advice, Shiuli brought the body to Khanpur.
On Sunday morning, as family members were preparing for the burial, locals noticed injury marks on the child’s neck and blood in the ears while washing the body. They immediately called the national emergency number 999 to report the matter.
SI Shahidul Islam said police inspected the scene following allegations that the step-mother had killed Sumaiya. The postmortem showed injury marks on the neck and right ear of the deceased child.
The body was then recovered and sent to the morgue of the 250-bed Noakhali General Hospital for autopsy. The step-mother was taken to the police station for questioning.
