Journalist, wife arrested over death by negligence of teenage maid in Mohammadpur

Executive Editor of The Daily Star Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker have been arrested over the death of a teenage domestic worker who was employed in their home in the capital's Mohammadpur area.

They are currently being transferred from Mohammadpur police station to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court (CMM) for further proceedings.

Earlier today, a case was filed against the couple under Penal Code 304A, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner (Mohammadpur Zone) Azizul Haque told The Business Standard.

This penal code section stipulates punishment for causing death due to rash or negligent acts, not amounting to culpable homicide, with imprisonment or fines.

"Whoever causes the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with a fine, or with both," reads the penal code.

Earlier yesterday (6 February), the house help, Preeti Urang, 15, fell from the ninth floor and sustained heavy injury. After being taken to a nearby hospital, the on-duty doctor declared her dead.  

The body has been kept at the morgue in Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem.

Following the incident, police detained four members of the family and took them to Mohammadpur police station for questioning.

A day after the incident, two children of the journalist were allowed to go.

Lukesh Urang, the father of 15-year-old Preeti, revealed that his daughter had been sent to Dhaka two years ago to work as a maid, aiming to alleviate their family's financial struggles. Throughout this period, Preeti never visited her family, with Lukesh Urang relying on occasional phone calls to the house owner to stay in touch.

In the case documentation, Lukesh Urang, as the plaintiff, said that Preeti fell from the 8th floor of apartment no. 2/7 in Mohammadpur's Shahjahanpur around 8 am on Tuesday (February 6th) due to the absence of safety bars on the window of the flat's drawing space. He highlighted that a similar incident occurred last year on 4 August, where another housekeeper sustained severe injuries from falling out of the same window. 

Lukesh attributed these repeated accidents to the negligence and carelessness of the house owner and occupants, emphasising the lack of protective barriers on the windows as the root cause.

Furthermore, the case document elaborated that the arrestees failed to provide satisfactory explanations when questioned about the absence of safety bars on their windows and the recurring nature of such accidents.

On 6 August last year, another domestic worker, Ferdausi, fell from the balcony of Syed Ashfaqul Haque's home and was seriously injured.

She was rescued and treated first at the Suhrawardy Hospital and later at the Dhaka Medical.

Josna Begum, the mother of the injured domestic worker, then filed a case with Mohammadpur police station mentioning the names of Syed Ashfaqul Haque, his wife Tania Khondoker and another person named Asma Akhtar.