'Wife' sues cricketer Arafat Sunny for domestic violence

The woman who claims to be the wife of cricketer Arafat Sunny has filed another case over alleged domestic violence.

The petition was made before the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal – 4 on Wednesday, her lawyer Kamaluddin told bdnews24.com.

Arafat Sunny and his mother Nargis Akhter have been accused in the petition.

The petition has been taken into cognisance and the Mohammadpur police have been ordered to investigate, said Kamal.

Two cases have already been filed against the cricketer, who had been arrested on Jan 22 on charges of posting offensive pictures of the woman on the social media.

He was produced before the court the same day when police was granted a day's remand to quiz him in the case filed under the ICT Act.

The next day, the woman filed another case against Sunny accusing him of demanding dowry and physical assault.

According to the documents of the latest case, Arafat Sunny married the woman on Dec 22, 2014. Sunny demanded Tk 2 million from her as dowry on Jul 29, 2015. Sunny’s mother told her that Sunny would not settle down with her if they were not given the dowry. Sunny and his mother then allegedly beat and insulted the woman.

“After Sunny was arrested his wife was summoned to the police station,” lawyer Kamaluddin told bdnews24.com. “On her way from the police station to the court she was attacked and had her clothes torn by Sunny’s mother. This was another incident of violence.”

The woman claims she and Sunny met seven years ago. They became involved in a relationship and eventually got married in December 2014, without informing their parents.

The families came to know of their marriage afterwards, but she claimed Sunny kept buying time before he took her with him.

The woman's family was growing restless and she asked Sunny to either take her, or arrange for dissolution of the marriage.

In June last year, Sunny opened a fake account on Facebook and began posting some of their intimate photos through messenger while threatening her, according to the details of the ICT case.

 But the 30-year-old left-arm bowler’s mother, Nargis Akter claimed her son was innocent and that the woman was trying to ‘frame’ him for money.

Nargis also said that the plaintiff could not show the documents confirming their marriage.

The spinner, who made his international debut against Sri Lanka in February 2014, played his last match for Bangladesh in the World T20 in March last year.

During the tournament in India, he and pacer Taskin Ahmed were suspended by ICC for illegal bowling actions.

Although the ban was later lifted after the game’s governing council approved his reworked action, he did not return to the national team.

Towards the end of last year he played for Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League where he grabbed 3 wickets without conceding any runs.

That makes him only the second player to achieve the feat in a 20-over game after Sri Lanka’s Dinuka Hettiarachchi.