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A Dhaka court has granted three days’ remand for one of two teachers arrested over the death of a 13-year-old madrasa student whose body was recovered from a bathroom in the capital’s Rayerbagh area.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbub Alam passed the order after a hearing on Thursday (August 13).
The remanded teacher is Hafez Md Zakaria, 35. The court did not hear the remand petition against the other accused, Hafez Md Zubayer Ahmed, 20, after he claimed to be a minor. The court fixed August 18 for a hearing on the matter.
Prosecution Sub-Inspector Abdus Sabur confirmed the development.
According to the case documents, the body of student Md Naim Sheikh was recovered from a bathroom on the third floor of the madrasa in the Jorakhamba area of Rayerbagh on August 3.
Naim’s mother, Nazma Begum, later filed a murder case with Kadamtali Police Station against the two teachers.
Police arrested the two teachers from the madrasa at around 10pm the same day and sent them to jail the following day.
On August 5, case investigation officer and Kadamtali Police Sub-Inspector Amzad Hossain sought five days’ remand for both accused. The court fixed Thursday for a hearing in their presence.
During the hearing, Advocate Harunur Rashid Khan, representing the complainant, argued in favour of granting remand. Zakaria’s lawyer, Imdadul Alam, opposed the remand petition and sought his client’s bail.
As Zubayer’s lawyer claimed that he was a minor, the court deferred the hearing on his remand petition.
The court subsequently granted three days’ remand for Zakaria.
The case statement alleges that the two teachers regularly physically assaulted Naim over various issues.
According to the complaint, Naim told his mother about the abuse. She subsequently wanted to take her son out of the madrasa, but the accused teachers allegedly refused to issue him a release certificate.
The complaint further alleges that the abuse intensified after Naim expressed his unwillingness to remain at the madrasa.
On the day of the incident, Naim reportedly told the teachers that he would no longer study there. The case alleges that he was beaten and then strangled to death.
