Published : 22 May 2026, 10:06 PM
Updated : 21 Aug 2026, 03:46 PM
A mother who is said to have been mentally ill has reportedly killed her 20-month-old daughter by slitting her throat in Sylhet.
The incident occurred around Fajr prayer time at Kalaruka village in Sylhet Sadar Upazila on Friday, when the child's father had left home to attend the morning prayer.
The victim has been identified as Maimuna Jannat Toha, daughter of Amir Ali.
Her mother, 25-year-old Subina Begum, has been taken into police custody, where she remained unresponsive to police questioning.
Police have initially found evidence about the mother suffering from mental sickness, a condition for which she was under treatment.
Jalalabad Police chief Shamsul Habib said Amir Ali left for the mosque after waking his wife for prayers.
Subina allegedly used a cleaver to slit the toddler's throat.
The couple’s eldest son screamed after discovering what had happened, drawing the attention of neighbours.
Shortly after, their younger son rushed to the mosque to inform their father of the tragedy.
Police recovered the body and sent it to a local hospital morgue for postmortem, said Mohammad Saiful Islam, deputy commissioner of the Sylhet Metropolitan Police.
Locals detained Subina at the scene and handed her over to police.
"She is not responding to any questions at the moment," said Saiful.
"We will interrogate her once she returns to a stable state to determine if there were other motives behind the killing."
Amir is preparing to file a murder case against his wife, police added.
