UNB :
A 17-year-old pregnant mother, who set herself on fire pouring kerosene over her body on October 8 in an attempt to kill herself, finally succumbed to her burn injuries on Thursday, after giving birth to a still baby.
Suraiya Newaz Labanya, daughter of Ariful Islam of Rahimpur village in Netrakona, breathed her last around 7:40pm at Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), said Partha Sankar Paul, a resident doctor of the hospital.
Earlier at 7am, she gave birth to a lifeless girl child, he said.
Harassed for dowry by her husband and in-laws, Suraiya set fire to her body on October 8 pouring kerosene in the kitchen at her father’s house.
Dr Ayub Hossain, another resident doctor of the institute, said Suraiya was six months’ pregnant and admitted to the hospital with 90 percent burn injuries.
“Her child died in her womb before birth when she got her body burned,” Dr Hossain said.
Suraiya’s father, Ariful, said he married his daughter off with Shahin Alam, a private car driver from Dhobaura upazila in Mymensingh, after their long relationship on October 2 last year.
Since then, Suraiya had been staying with her in-laws in Mymensingh. After a few days, Ariful said, they started torturing her mentally and physically for dowry. They demanded Tk 2 lakh for Shahin as dowry to start a business.
Suraiya, meanwhile, got pregnant but that did not prevent her husband and in-laws from torturing her. She was even denied her regular meals.
On August 1 last, Ariful visited her in-laws’ house in Mymensingh and found her daughter very sick. Deeply worried, Ariful brought her beloved daughter back to Netrakona.
But Suraiya’s husband, Shahin, is not a man to spare her so easily. Shahin then started calling her over phone regularly and used to abuse her verbally.
Having failed to endure the torture, Suraiya set fire to her body pouring kerosene in the kitchen of her father’s house on October 8.
