The body of a woman lay unattended for nine hours in Sadullapur, Gaibandha, amid a jurisdictional dispute between police units. Burial was finally completed by Anjuman Mufidul Islam nearly 28 hours later, after the necessary legal process was completed.
The homeless woman had been living near Dhaperhat bus stand on the Dhaka-Rangpur highway in Sadullapur. Her identity unknown, she was found lying ill on the Dhaperhat overbridge on Friday morning. A passerby who saw her took a photo and posted it on Facebook. Seeing the post, local journalist and businessman Aminul Islam went to the scene with several others.
After being informed, police from the local Dhaperhat police investigation centre also arrived. Around noon, the woman was sent by auto-van toward Palashbari Upazila Health Complex. She died on the way.
Auto-van driver Rafiqul Islam said he took the body to Dhaperhat police investigation centre, but officers there declined to accept it. On their advice, he left the body around 2pm back on the highway, at the spot where he had originally picked up the woman. A police officer gave him 100 taka for his trouble.
What followed was a prolonged back-and-forth over the body. Journalist Aminul Islam and teacher Abdul Malek Saju said that, since the location was on a highway, highway police were informed. Gobindaganj highway police arrived at the scene around 7pm, stayed until 10pm, and left without taking the body. The tug-of-war between the two police units then resumed.
Around 11pm, Dhaperhat police investigation centre finally took the body to Sadullapur police station. The following day, Saturday, the body was sent to the morgue at Gaibandha Modern Hospital for post-mortem examination.
Sub-inspector Hafiz Uddin of Dhaperhat police investigation centre said he spoke with senior officials and recovered the woman’s body around 11pm on Friday. After the post-mortem, she was buried through Gaibandha Anjuman Mufidul after 6pm on Saturday. He said he personally spent five thousand taka to complete these arrangements, even though Gobindaganj highway police had prepared an inquest report but did not take the body.
Sub-inspector Faruk Hossain of Gobindaganj highway police, who attended the scene, said the inquest report was prepared for the woman’s body with the assistance of Dhaperhat police investigation centre, and that no injury marks were found on her body. He said responsibility for completing the necessary legal procedures for the body was then handed to Dhaperhat police investigation centre.
Sadullapur police station officer-in-charge A K M Habibul Islam said that because highway police failed to properly carry out their duty, his station had to handle everything itself. “Some matters are humane,” he said. “So we couldn’t avoid the responsibility. These issues have been reported to senior authorities.”