After suffering for four days, a teenage domestic help succumbed to self-inflicted burn injuries at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) yesterday.
Runa Akhter Parvin, 14, set herself on fire after failing to convince her mother that her master Amin Ahmed Rokon, a businessman based in Chittagong, had tortured and raped her.
Six months back, Runa’s mother Rokeya brought her to Rokon’s apartment situated in the Ice Factory Road of the city to work as a domestic help. Runa was employed at a monthly salary of Tk1,500.
Assuming that Rokon was a decent person, she left her daughter there and visited her at the end of every month, said Rokeya who lives with her husband Abdul Mannan in Chittagong’s Karnaphuli area.
“On Saturday, when I visited Runa at Rokon’s residence, she complained that Rokon had sexually assaulted her several times. She wanted to quit the job. But I thought she was lying and I slapped her,” said a wailing Rokeya at the Burn Unit of CMCH after her daughter passed away yesterday.
“I told her to stay there for a few more months but she kept complaining. At one point of hearing her accusations, Rokon started beating her indiscriminately. He kicked her in the abdomen,” she continued.
Runa rushed to the kitchen, locked the door and set herself on fire, said Rokeya, crying hysterically.
After breaking down the door, Rokeya and Rokon brought Runa to the CMCH’s Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit in critical condition.
Seeking proper justice for Runa, her mother said: “I was wrong, I sent my daughter to that job because of our poverty.”
Under section 10 of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, Rokeya lodged a case against Rokon on November 29 with Sadarghat police station detailing the accusations of torture Runa had made.
Sadarghat police station Inspector Sadip Kumar Das said Rokon has been on the run since the incident.
A section on suicide would be included in the case as per the law, he said.