In Kishoreganj’s Bhairab, an elderly woman named Lily Begum has been beaten to death with a bamboo pole, it is alleged, with the accusation levelled against a neighbouring couple. Bhairab police recovered the body on Saturday morning, July 25, and sent it to the morgue of Kishoreganj Sadar Hospital for a post-mortem.
The incident took place on Friday afternoon, July 24, in the Jagannathpur South Para (Gainhati) area of the municipal town.
Lily Begum was the wife of the late Surut Ali of the Jagannathpur South Para Gainhati area and a tenant at Haji Dhan Mia’s house.
The accused are a couple from the same area. After the incident they locked up their house and fled into hiding.
According to police and local sources, Lily Begum, a woman in her sixties, was sweeping the yard of the house on Friday afternoon. At that time the neighbouring man’s 10-year-old son was riding a bicycle. When the boy ran the bicycle into Lily Begum, an argument followed between her and the boy’s family. At one point, it is alleged, the man and his wife beat her.
In the beating, struck several times with a bamboo pole and with a brick, Lily Begum fell unconscious at the scene. Locals rescued her and took her to the upazila health complex, where the doctor on duty declared her dead.
Neighbours said Lily Begum and her children were harmless people of the area. In their account, amid the argument over the boy riding the bicycle, the couple beat her with a bamboo pole and struck her with a brick, killing her. “We neighbours want them found and brought to justice,” they said.
They further said Lily Begum’s husband had died leaving three children. Her two daughters are of marriageable age, and her only son has a mental disability. Lily Begum ran the household by working in other people’s homes.
Her daughter said: “My mother raised us. What will happen to us now? We have been left helpless.”
The officer-in-charge (OC) of Bhairab police station, Limon Bose, said the accused had locked up their house and fled after the incident. The body has been recovered and sent to Kishoreganj Sadar Hospital for a post-mortem. Necessary action will be taken on the basis of the complaint from the victim’s family, he said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report