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Police have arrested five people, including the paternal grandparents of a 13-month-old boy, over allegations that the child was sold for Tk 200,000 and taken from Ishwarganj in Mymensingh.
The child, identified as Mojahid, was later rescued from the Harichandi area of Char Mahmudpur union in Dohar, Dhaka, police said.
The boy’s mother, Rozina Begum, 21, filed a case with Ishwarganj Police Station on Wednesday under Bangladesh’s laws on preventing and suppressing human trafficking and smuggling. Six people were named as defendants, while three to four others were accused without being named.
The arrested suspects are the child’s grandfather Ujjal Mia, 50; grandmother Ayesha Khatun, 45; paternal aunt Sharifa Khatun, 35; and a couple from Dohar, Abed Molla, 35, and his wife Shikha, 35.
According to the case statement, Rozina married Md Naim Mia, 25, about two years ago. Their son Mojahid is now 13 months old.
The couple reportedly became involved in a family dispute about five months ago, after which Rozina was allegedly assaulted and sent to her parents’ home. The child, however, remained with his paternal grandparents.
Rozina later began working at a garment factory in Gazipur. She subsequently learned from local residents that her husband and members of his family had allegedly handed the child over to unidentified people for Tk 200,000 on the night of September 28.
When she went to her in-laws’ home the following night to ask about her son, she was allegedly verbally abused and forced to leave, according to the case statement.
Police said Rozina filed a general diary (GD) at Ishwarganj Police Station on Monday. Investigators subsequently traced the child to Harichandi in Dohar and conducted an operation there to rescue him.
Police also arrested the five suspects in connection with the incident.
Ishwarganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge Sazzad Roman told media that the couple from whom the child was recovered had no children and claimed they had taken him to raise him.
However, the officer said the procedure through which they obtained the child was not lawful.
“The child is safe in our custody and will be handed over through the court,” he said, adding that investigators were examining whether anyone else was involved.
The arrested suspects were sent to court on Wednesday afternoon, police said.
