Police rescue mother and son in Feni after being confined in a room for five years

A mother and son in Feni have been rescued after being held in a room for five years. Relatives say the woman's brother held them captive over a property-related feud.

Police rescued Jahanara Begum Rosy, 45, a former teacher of Dhaka's Viquarunnisa Noon School and her son Mehedi Islam Jimun from a house at the town's Rampur area Wednesday evening.

Local administration and police said that a raid was conducted after a local newspaper reported the confinement.

Eleven-year-old Jimun wrote a note pleading to rescue them and slid it outside through a closed window, which was found by a local and handed over to the newspaper.

The mother and son have been admitted to the Feni Sadr Hospital after being rescued on Wednesday.

Rosy is suffering from mental illness while her son Jimun is limping due to Ricket disease, said the hospitals Resident Medical Officer Asim Kumar Saha.

He suspects the mother might have developed Schizophrenia because of being held captive in a small room for five years.

Her brother-in-law Nuru Islam said that Rosy, who has done her Master’s in Bangla from the Dhaka University (DU), used to teach at the Viquarunnisa Noon School and College in Dhaka.

In 2000, she married one Abul Kalam Azad Bhuiyan, also a DU graduate, but they were divorced after three years. Rosy then moved to her parent's house in Feni.

"Meanwhile, a feud between Rosy and her younger brother Sher Shah loomed. In 2009, Shah locked Rosy and her son in room," said Islam.

Shah lives in Dhaka and their other brother Shahen Shah is mentally ill.

Their other four sisters could not contact Rosy because of (Sher) Shah's threats, he said.

Rosy and her son were locked in one of the two houses in the same compound at her parent's home in Feni's Rampur area.

There were tenants in the other one.

A tenant, asking not to be named said: "We used to give food and other essentials through the window as per the landlord Sher Shah's instructions."

The son, Jimun said sometimes they had to pass days without foods if the tenants were not home.

"My uncle confined me along with my mother for five years since 2010. I want to go to school and play," said the 11-year-old.

Feni's Superintendent of Police Md Rezaul Haque said Jimun's father is now at Sylhet's Jointapur Upazila as the Social Welfare Officer.

He has been informed of the matter, said the police official, adding they are trying to bring the culprits to book.