Upheaval in Pallabi as woman 'dies by suicide’ during police raid

Enraged locals clashed with law enforcers as news that the police had strangled the woman to death spread

A woman's suicide in the middle of an anti-drug raid by police at a house in Dhaka's Pallabi area touched off clashes between law enforcers and residents.

As news of police strangling the woman to death spread during the raid on Monday night, angry locals confronted the lawmen, and a few police vehicles were vandalised.

Police maintained that the woman took her own life. But the woman's family hit back by accusing the police of 'instigating' the suicide.

The Mirpur Division of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police said it would investigate the incident. Police also said the dead woman, identified as Baishakhi Begum, and her mother, Lovely Begum, sold drugs.

Police reportedly seized cannabis and yaba tablets from their house in Adarshanagar. Lovely fled while she was being taken to the police station after her arrest.

Locals say Baishakhi was no more than 16 years old and had only been married for a year. However, police claimed she was 19.

She was implicated in four drugs-related cases, while her mother Lovely was a suspect in seven cases, according to law enforcers.

Some residents in Adarshanagar said they were aware of drug deals taking place in Lovely's house, but claimed that ‘sources’ of the police visited the place regularly. They alleged that the illicit business was run under the patronage of the police.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

Lovely lives in a four-storey building in Adarshanagar, which was owned by her late father, Mainuddin Miji.

Her mother, Rahima Khatun, said Lovely was the eldest of six siblings. Rahima lives in the building with Lovely and two of her sons’ families. Two rooms have been rented to outsiders.

Lovely and her husband ran a detergent powder business, Rahima said.

Baishakhi was one of Lovely's five children, who lived in Bownia, Mirpur with her husband. She came to visit her mother on Monday.

When police tried to arrest Lovely, Baishakhi protested and later committed suicide, according to the family.

Describing the altercation with the police, Rahima said, “I was taking a nap during the evening when the police came and started to bang on the gate. Lovely and her three daughters were on the fourth floor and they came down.

"Lovely told me not to open the door. The police continued to bang on the gate and threatened to break it down. I told the police to wait until my sons came back. I was shaking with fear.”

Police continued knocking, and Rahima was left with no choice but to open the gate. They swooped in and went to the fourth floor, she said. Then, they checked the second floor and came down to the ground floor.

“It was then that the police locked Baishakhi in a room. She would not have died otherwise. And they [police] beat up her mother [Lovely], ripping her clothes off.”

“I asked them if we should leave the house. The police said we should sell it off. Then I told them why we would do that when we constructed the house after facing so many obstacles. We’ll stay,” said Rahima.

Rahima added that while Baishakhi’s body was hanging in the room, police arrested Lovely in a bloodied state with her clothes torn.

Deputy Commissioner Jashimuddin Molla, however, said Lovely escaped on the way to the Adarshanagar Police Station.

POLICE ACCUSED OF 'PROVOKING' SUICIDE

Ataur Rahman Akash, Baishakhi’s brother, said that Sub-Inspector Zahir of Pallabi Police Station, who conducted the raid, provoked his sister to commit suicide.

His sisters requested that the police not take their mother away when SI Zahir demanded Tk 200,000 and threatened to frame Lovely and her three daughters if they didn't pay.

Akash said his sisters were willing to pay up to Tk 50,000. In the meantime, police arrested their mother and locked Baishakhi up in a room. SI Zahir threw a scarf at Baishakhi and asked her to die by suicide.

Baishakhi’s body had been hanging for three hours, but the family was not allowed to go to her, said Akash.

A piece of the scarf she used to hang herself was dangling from an iron ring in the room where Baishakhi died.

"Zahir Sir threw this scarf in through the window to Baishakhi and said, ‘Go die’. Then she wrapped that scarf around her neck and committed suicide,” Akash’s wife, Nishi Begum, said.

Many locals witnessed Lovely going with the police with her clothes ripped apart and her body bloodied.

The police were accompanied by one 'Wahid', known to be an informant, said a 12-year-old relative of Baishakhi. The police allegedly said they'd "take Lovely away" even if they didn't find any drugs, according to her. It was then that the family clashed with the police, and at one point, Baishakhi took her own life.

The family has alleged that Wahid, the police informant, planted the drugs found in their house.