In Satkhira’s Debhata, the main accused in the murder case, Fazlul Haque Amini, has described the beating death of Wahiduzzaman Shamim (38) over allegations of blasphemy as an “accident.”
On Sunday around 3 pm, members of the Special Response Battalion (SRB) brought him to the Sadar police station, where he made the remarks in front of journalists.
Just before entering the police station building, in response to journalists’ questions, Fazlul Haque Amini said: “In the eyes of the law, I am a criminal. What I did—you are seeing it on social media—Allah will decide that.”
Answering another question, Amini said: “There was no intention to beat him to death; it happened in an accident. In the eyes of the law, I am a criminal, but otherwise I do not consider myself a criminal.”
Before beating Shamim to death, Amini went live twice on Facebook to gather people. After repeatedly beating him to death, Amini posted photos of the body on Facebook.
Around 11 pm on Saturday, police and SRB-6 raided a relative’s house in Faridpur village of Kaliganj upazila in the district and arrested Fazlul Haque Amini. On Sunday around 3 pm, SRB members brought him to the Sadar police station. He was later sent to jail through the court.
Debhata police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) H.M. Shaheen told Prothom Alo that Fazlul Haque Amini admitted to police his involvement in beating Shamim to death. He also said he would give a confessional statement under Section 164 in court. For this reason, police did not consider it necessary to take him on remand. On the court’s order, he has been sent to jail.
Last Monday, an audio conversation of Shamim spread on Facebook. After allegations arose that the audio contained blasphemous remarks, an attempt was made to attack his house. That day, Shamim was first beaten in a local market. After the incident, Shamim tried to commit suicide by taking poison. Family members took him to a local village doctor’s chamber for treatment.
The next day, Tuesday afternoon, a group of people took Shamim out of the village doctor’s chamber and beat him again. Police rescued him and admitted him to the upazila health complex. Later that night, under Fazlul Haque’s leadership, a procession went to the hospital and beat Shamim again. Shamim died on the way to Satkhira Medical College Hospital. The deceased Shamim was the son of Shamsul Rahman of Subarnabad village in Debhata upazila.
In this incident, Shamim’s elder brother Abdul Jalil filed a murder case at Debhata police station on Thursday night as the complainant. In the case, Fazlul Haque Amini was named as the main accused along with nine others. Another 200 to 250 people were made unknown accused. The next day, two named accused in the case—Mokhtar Hossain Khan and Asadul Islam Molla—were arrested and sent to jail.
On Sunday afternoon, a visit to Shamim’s house in Subarnabad village of Debhata showed that he had been buried next to his father Shamsul Rahman’s grave behind the house. Shamim’s brother Tawhidur Rahman was standing beside the grave. He said: “After Shamim’s death, many people said many things about his janaza and burial. There was also talk of obstructing the janaza and burial. Even so, we performed the janaza and burial. Many acquaintances did not come to the janaza. But later people came to the house to offer condolences.”
In front of the house, Shamim’s wife Najma Khatun stood looking depressed while holding their eight-month-old child.
She said: “My husband had been suffering from mental problems for a long time. He had to take medicine regularly. He worked at a hotel in Satkhira town. The family ran on my husband’s income. Now I don’t know where I will go with my two small children or how we will survive. I am also worried about my own future. I feel scared even staying at home.” She appealed for everyone’s cooperation to survive with the children.