Those responsible for Preeti Urang's death must be brought to book: NHRC chairman
Referring to Preeti’s death, he said, “In a place, where journalists are considered as the mirror of society, the death of domestic worker Preeti at the residence of journalist Ashfaqul Haque was very cruel, shocking and a gross violation of human rights.
Those responsible for the death of teenage domestic help Preeti Urang must be brought to book, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chief said on Monday (19 February), describing the incident as a gross violation of human rights.
"The incident should be properly investigated," NHRC Chairman Kamal Uddin Ahmed told reporters after visiting four garment factories in Narayanganj in the afternoon.
"In a place, where journalists are considered as the mirror of society, the death of domestic worker Preeti at the residence of journalist Ashfaqul Haque was very cruel, shocking and a gross violation of human rights."
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Mentioning that Bangladesh has policies to protect domestic workers, Kamal Uddin said, "However, they often fall victim to abuse. And due to the economic and social vulnerability of the house helps, their offenders are rarely punished.
"As a result, there is a culture of impunity in domestic worker abuse in the society."
Referring to Preeti's death, he said, "In a place, where journalists are considered as the mirror of society, the death of domestic worker Preeti at the residence of journalist Ashfaqul Haque was very cruel, shocking and a gross violation of human rights.
"Such brutal events shock our conscience. This is not a new incident, it is a repetition of what happened on 6 August last year at the residence of the same journalist."
Earlier on 15 February, the NHRC had written to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Dhaka metropolitan police seeking to know the progress of the case filed in connection with the death of Preeti.
In the letter, the commission called for a proper investigation into the death of Preeti to find out what actually happened that day and ensure the punishment of those responsible.
A copy of the letter has been sent to the senior secretary of the Public Security Division.
Preeti Urang, daughter of a tea worker in Moulvibazar, fell to her death from the eighth-floor apartment of The Daily Star Executive Editor Syed Ashfaqul Haque in Dhaka's Mohammadpur on 6 February.
The next day, her father Lukesh Urang filed a case with Mohammadpur police station, against journalist Ashfaqul and his wife Tania Khondoker. Following the filing of the case, both accused were promptly arrested and sent to jail after a court denied them bail in the case.
On 13 February, a Dhaka court granted the police a four-day remand of Ashfaqul Haque and Tania Khondoker in the case.
Following the remand, the accused were sent to jail again on 18 February.
Lukesh, in the case, said Preeti fell from the apartment 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, 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.
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 College Hospital.
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.
