House help, 16, falls to her death from 5-storey Dhaka home

A female house help in Dhaka's Mohammadpur has died after falling from the roof of a five-storey apartment building due to alleged negligence by the firefighters and police.

Golam Mujtaba Dhrubabdnews24.com
Published : 1 Oct 2014, 08:52 PM
Updated : 1 Oct 2014, 08:52 PM

Locals claim no initiative was taken to rescue Moslema Begum during the half an hour she was on the cornice and that police had 'barred' them from helping the poor girl.

Both the firefighters and police have rejected the allegations.

A Fire Service official, who was at the scene on Tuesday, said they did their best but could not save the 16-year old.

Police, on the other hand, claimed they were not letting anyone in to make sure the firefighters' efforts were not interrupted.

Hailing from Chapainawabganj, Moslema and her elder sister 'Shuktara', 20, worked as domestic helps at private bank official Mostofa Khaer's Shekher Tek residence.

Khaer was outside Dhaka on Tuesday.

According to the building's residents, Moslema had gone to fetch cloths from the rooftop on Tuesday evening but did not return. Shortly after, she was found sitting on the cornice.

They said they had informed police and Fire Service as soon as they found her sitting like that.

Khaer's younger brother Murad Khaer, who lives in the same building, said Fire Service officials were at their house for over 30 minutes but could not rescue the girl.

"It's really tragic," he said.

Sheuli Begum, who lives in a building across the street, confirmed bdnews24.com that she had seen the girl sitting on the cornice.

She recounted how the teen sat alone on the cornice before falling to her death.

"The Fire Service officials were peeping at the girl and didn't come to her rescue. I thought we could have saved her if we tried catching her below with blankets."

But police were not allowing anyone on the spot, she said.

When approached, Mohammadpur Fire Station's Senior Officer Mohammad Ali said they had gone to the scene around 8:30pm on Tuesday after they were asked for help.

"We tried to communicate with the girl noticing she wasn't fully conscious," he said. "It seems someone had drugged her before putting her there."

Sheuli Begum said she, too, had noticed the domestic help's incoherent movement as if she were under drug's influence.

Ali said they had expected the girl to respond. She suddenly started moving fingers of her hands and feet and fell down minutes later.

Md Ripon, who works at the garage nearby, witnessed the last moments and believed she could have been easily rescued.

He said he had seen Moslema's elder sister Shuktara crying for help.

"It (rescuing) wouldn't have been difficult but the house owner's wife forbade us," Ripon recalled.

Witnesses claimed the Fire Service officials did not sprint into action after Moslema fell.

Doctors at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital declared her dead on arrival.

A visit to the spot revealed that it was quite impossible for the girl to go over to the cornice herself.

Fire Service officer Ali, too, suspected foul play.

"It seemed as though someone had tried to strangle her and left her on the cornice thinking she was dead," he added.

Moslema's sister went to their village on Wednesday morning with the body. But Ali suspects she was made to leave Dhaka.

According to him, the house's owner did not allow Shuktara to accompany her sister to hospital.

"She might have been sent home to hide the truth," he suspected adding that no-one was given Shuktara's contact number.

But Maruf Khaer claimed Moslema's family had requested them to send Shuktara home.

"Keeping her here at this time would have been inhuman," he said.

Adabar police said they were looking into every possibility.

"We'll thoroughly investigate the whole thing and try to unlock the mystery surrounding the death," OC Gazi Ruhul Imam told bdnews24.com.