Court rejects bail plea of slain Barguna youth Refat’s wife Minny

Aysha Siddika Minny has been denied bail in the case over the daylight murder of her husband Refat Shorif in Barguna.

Barguna Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Sirajul Islam Gazi rejected her bail plea after a hearing on Sunday. 

Minny, a student of Barguna Government College, had been arrested over her alleged involvement in the plot to murder Refat before giving a confessional statement in the same court on Friday.

Her father Mozammel Hossain Kishore, however, alleged that she was ‘coerced’ into giving the statement following “torture in police custody”.

Following her arrest on July 17, no lawyer had come forward to represent Minny in court but on Sunday, 13 lawyers stood for her in the bail plea. However, Minny was not present in court for the hearing.

District Bar Association General Secretary Mahbubul Bari Aslam had filed the bail plea on behalf of Minny. Two lawyers from Ain o Salish Kendra and seven others from Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) have accompanied Aslam during the hearing.

"The suspects in the Refat Shorif murder case have said in their statements that, Minny was involved in the daylight murder of her husband. The court has denied her bail on the basis of these statements," Aslam told reporters after the hearing. 

Refat, 23, died after a group of assailants hacked him after beating him up on College Road in the town on June 26 when he went to pick up his wife from college.

A video of Minny trying to save her husband from the attackers went viral on social media, creating an outrage.