Preeti Urang's death: The Daily Star executive editor, wife denied bail
A Dhaka court has denied bail to Executive Editor of The Daily Star Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker in a case filed over the death of a teenage domestic help at their home in the capital's Mohammadpur area.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Farah Diba Chanda passed the order after hearing a bail plea today (20 February), Advocate Ashraf Ul Alam, lawyer of the accused, told The Business Standard.
Senior Lawyer Ehsanul Haque Somaji also moved for the bail plea.
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At the hearing, the lawyers of the accused said the case has been filed under a bailable section of the penal code.
According to a decision of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, the bail of any person cannot be withheld under such a clause, they said.
Advocate Ashraf-ul Alam told the court, "She [Preeti Urang] was not tortured. The girl jumped on her own."
However, arguing against the bail, SI Helal Uddin told the court, "The investigation of this case is still ongoing. As the accused in this case are very influential, if they get bail, they can influence the investigation. A fair investigation may be disrupted."
Considering the importance of the case, the court decided to deny bail to the couple, Helal Uddin told The Business Standard.
Earlier on 13 February, Syed Ashfaqul Haque and Tania Khondoker were granted a four-day remand in the case. On 18 February, they were sent to jail after the remand ended.
Preeti Urang, daughter of a tea worker in Moulvibazar, fell to her death from the eighth-floor apartment of 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 Ashfaqul Haque and his wife, Tania Khondoker.
Following the filing of the case, both accused were promptly arrested. The couple were sent to jail after a court denied them bail.
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 in August 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.
Rights organisations have been protesting Preeti's death in recent days demanding a fair investigation into the incident and justice for the deceased.
