Affair Alleged in Imam’s Daughter Abduction; No Marriage Evidence Found

A shocking incident of abduction has been reported in Gazipur’s Shreepur, where a 15-year-old madrasa student, daughter of a local imam, was allegedly taken away at gunpoint from her father’s house.

The girl’s father, Hadiul Islam, who is the imam and khatib of Baytul Mamur Jame Masjid in Keowa Paschimkhondo area of Shreepur Municipality, filed a complaint. He alleged that on Wednesday (15 April) afternoon around 3:00 PM, a group of local miscreants including Abid, Sumit, Abid’s father, his uncle Bachchu, uncle-in-law Khalil, Saiful, and tenant Ujjwal broke into his house, threatened him with a pistol, and forcibly took his daughter away.

However, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Shreepur Police Station, Nasir Ahmed, told The Daily Campus on Saturday (18 April) that the incident appears to be a love marriage. He said the boy and girl had eloped the previous day. Later, both families held a local arbitration meeting, but the matter was not initially reported to the police.

According to the OC, the girl’s father allegedly locked her inside the house and forced her to say she was abducted. Seven people from the boy’s side — including his mother, uncle, and cousins — have been arrested.

The OC added that the boy and girl are currently missing, and several family members from both sides are in hiding. He noted that the girl’s father, being affiliated with a political party, may be trying to present the matter differently.

Local arbitration member and Shreepur Poura BNP Convening Committee member Shahjahan Sajal said the boy and girl had run away together the day before. A social meeting was arranged with local scholars and elders to resolve the issue. The boy’s side could not produce any marriage documents. Later, the boy’s father and others allegedly broke into the house and took the girl away.

Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr. Shafiqur Rahman strongly condemned the incident in a Facebook post, saying he has no words to express his shock and anger at the daylight abduction of a madrasa student, the barbaric attack on her family, and the looting.