A 19-year-old newly-wed girl was writhing in a hospital bed with much of her body burnt. Her once delicate face shrivelled. Eyes burnt to coal. Victim Amena Begum was set ablaze by someone in her in-laws’ house at Hatir Khuda in Khagrachhari on Sunday night. The identity and motive of her attackers are yet to be known. Amena is now fighting for life with 95 percent of her body burnt, said doctors at Chittagong Medical College Hospital where she was undergoing treatment. Jasim Uddin Ahmad, associate professor and head of surgery department at CMCH, termed her condition critical and recommended that she be transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The incident happened between 9:00pm and 10:30pm on Sunday. Her mother Bibi Hajera said she went to see Amena that morning and returned home, which is two km away, in the afternoon. She talked to Amena over the phone around 9:30pm on her return. “We received a phone call around 10:30pm from a neighbour of Amena’s in-laws who said my daughter was burnt,” said Hajera, adding, nobody could tell how it happened. Amena’s husband, Abdul Quader, and her father-in-law and mother-in-law went missing after the incident. The three were at home when Hajera went to visit her daughter that morning. Family members said they never heard of any dispute between Amena and her in-laws. Amena was married to Quader, a day labourer, six months ago. On the wedding day, her family gave Quader Tk 30,000 as dowry, said Amena’s father Abul Kalam. “We found nobody at her in-laws’ house when we took her to the hospital,” he said, “we could not talk to any neighbour either as we had to rush her to hospital.” Amena was initially taken to Ramgar Sadar Hospital from where she was shifted to CMCH. Fazlur Rahman, in-charge of CMCH police outpost, termed the incident mysterious. He said police would investigate the matter. Amena’s family members said they would file a case against her in-laws.
