(February 11, 2011) A teenage Bangladeshi girl who died six days after being publicly
whipped had been raped by her alleged lover, her father told the high court in Dhaka
on Thursday. 15-year old Hena Begum died in hospital last week from injuries suffered
when she was lashed with a rope by village elders as an Islamic sharia punishment
for an alleged extra-marital affair with her cousin. "The victim's father told the
court his daughter was raped by her cousin, and then tortured in an illegal sharia
punishment," deputy attorney general Altaf Hossain told AFP. An initial post-mortem
examination found "no external injury marks" on Hena, triggering public outcry at
police handling of the case and prompting activists to petition the high court. Police
launched a murder investigation after the body was exhumed and a second post-mortem
found Hena had died of internal bleeding. Salma Ali, a lawyer with Bangladesh National
Women Lawyers' Association, the group that brought the case to court, said officials
had concealed the cause of Hena's death, alleging the police fabricated evidence to
make it look like Hena was having an affair. One village elder in court, Idris Sheikh,
who is alleged to have organised the whipping, was arrested immediately after the
hearing. Her cousin and alleged lover, Mahbub Khan, was arrested on Wednesday. Last
July, Bangladesh's High Court outlawed punishments handed down by religious edict,
or fatwa, following a series of cases brought by local human rights groups.