Preeti Urang's death: 4-day remand granted for The Daily Star executive editor, wife
Court says the couple have made their house a “death pit”
A Dhaka court today (13 February) granted four-day remands for Executive Editor of The Daily Star Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker over the death of a teenage maid at their home in the capital's Mohammadpur area.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Saifur Rahman passed the order, Investigation Officer Nazmul Hasan told The Business Standard.
At the remand hearing, the judge said to Haque and his wife Tania, "You people have made the house a death pit, just a death pit. This could have happened to your son and daughter. With such incidents repeating, you cannot avoid responsibility."
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The police had produced the couple before the court and requested 10-day remand for each.
Also Read: Demand for justice grows as tea workers protest domestic worker Preeti's death
Earlier on 7 February, the couple were sent to jail after a court denied them bail in the case.
Meanwhile, a human chain was formed in front of the National Press Club today demanding justice over the death of domestic worker Preeti Urang, reports UNB.
At the event, Preeti's parents – tea worker father Lukesh Urang, and mother Namita Urang - alleged that their daughter was brutally murdered after being thrown off an eight-storey building.
They demanded a thorough investigation into the incident.
The Human Rights Forum Bangladesh (HRPB), a human rights body, has also expressed deep concern and demanded fair probe into the death of Preeti.
Besides, Naripakkho, a women's rights organisation, demanded a fair probe into the death of Priti and punishment of those involved in the death.
It also urged the government to take steps so that the culprits do not get acquittal using power and effective steps to stop recurrence of such incident, the UNB reported.
On 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 next day, her father, Lokesh Urang, filed a case with Mohammadpur police station, naming journalist Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife, Tania Khondoker. Following the filing of the case, both accused were promptly arrested.
In the case statement, Lukesh Urang said 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 relying on occasional phone calls to the house owner to stay in touch.
Lukesh Urang, as the plaintiff, also said that Preeti fell from the 8th floor of apartment No. 2/7 in Mohammadpur's Shahjahan Road area around 8am on Tuesday 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.
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 against Syed Ashfaqul Haque, his wife Tania Khondoker and another person named Asma Akhtar.
