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Published : 21 Apr 2026, 07:34 PM
In a courtroom heavy with sobs and disbelief, a 46-day-old infant has been taken into custody alongside her mother after a Dhaka court rejected bail in an attempted murder case linked to the July movement.
“My child will die,” cried Shilpi Begum on Tuesday as proceedings unfolded, her voice breaking as she was led away from the courtroom, clutching her newborn daughter.
The plea echoed through the tense room where a judge ordered her sent to jail custody despite urgent appeals over her medical condition and the child’s complete dependence on breastfeeding.
Shilpi, a Jubo Mohila League activist from Ward No. 26 of Dhaka North City, is accused in an attempted murder case involving Dhaka University student Tahmid Mubin Ratul.
She was arrested on Monday evening from Railway Colony in Tejkunipara.
On Tuesday, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Awlad Hossain Muhammad Junaid rejected her bail petition.
Defence counsel argued that she had recently undergone a caesarean section and was still recovering from a fractured arm, making it impossible to care for an infant in custody.
The court, however, sent her to jail pending trial.
As the ruling was announced, Shilpi collapsed into tears: “The stitches from my C-section still hurt. I cannot even feed my child properly,” she said. “She will die if she goes with me. I cannot take care of her alone in jail.”
Her words turned into anguish as police escorted her out at around 3:12pm. Descending from the fourth floor, she held her infant tightly, refusing to let go even as she wept uncontrollably.
Inside the courtroom, her husband, sister, sister-in-law and aunt watched helplessly.
Relatives repeatedly raised the same question: how could a recovering mother and a newborn be separated under such circumstances?
The child was born on Mar 4 at a private hospital. Family members said Shilpi has not fully recovered and continues to suffer post-surgical pain alongside her arm injury.
Her lawyer Farzana Yasmin Rakhi pleaded for conditional bail, telling the court: “She has a 1-month-16-day-old daughter. We are seeking bail on humanitarian grounds.” But the plea was rejected without relief.
Outside the courtroom, grief deepened.
Her husband Rahim Hossain Shohag described a family overwhelmed by crisis.
“After three sons, this daughter was born. Now she is going to prison,” he said. “Our 4-and-a-half-year-old son had surgery just days ago. I do not know how we will survive this.”
Shilpi’s aunt Sumi Khanam expressed fear over the child’s survival in prison conditions.
“Doctors advised four months of rest after surgery. She can barely sit up. How will she care for a infant in the heat of a jail cell?” she said. “We begged to keep the child with us, but they refused.”
Because the arrest order specified “custody with child”, both mother and infant were transported together to Kashimpur Central Jail.
Investigating officer Sub-Inspector Sheikh Nazrul Islam of Tejgaon Police argued that there was sufficient evidence of Shilpi’s involvement in suppressing the July student-led movement and said her detention was necessary until investigation concluded.
According to case documents, Dhaka University student Ratul was shot in Chankharpul on Jul 16, 2024.
Prosecutors allege that on Jul 23, a group of 120–130 people attacked his Tejgaon residence under Shilpi’s instruction, vandalising property worth Tk 500,000 and looting goods worth Tk 300,000, while also assaulting his father Sohel Rana.
The case, filed on Jan 25 by Ratul’s mother Shahnur Khanam, names 103 individuals, including former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, along with 120–130 unidentified suspects.
