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She finally finds peace in death

Burnt by husband for being too ill to work, Momtaj gives up her 24-day battle for life

Shaheen Mollah
Momtaj Begum is finally free of all the pain and suffering she has undergone at the haqds pf |ier hy^band of ten years-- apd his family -- because she was too ill to work.
She died early yesterday morning after fighting for her life for 24 long days in a bed at the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), suffering from burn injuries.
Her husband Shamsul Biswas helped his family pour kerosene on Momtaj and set her on fire because her father could not pay a dowry ofTk one lakh to 'compensate' for her ill health.
Last week Momtaj talked to the Daily Star from her hospital bed, describing the inhuman treatment she received from her husband after ten years of marriage, because she fall too ill to work to the satisfaction of her in-laws.
"He used to beat me up all the time, though he knew how ill I was. On the night of June 7, an argument broke out over the dowry with Shamsul and his family, and this lasted almost the entire night. A one point, my husband, his brother, sister and sister's husband beat me up savagely."
“Finally, at around 7:00 in the morning 1 went to sleep with my five year old son. When I woke up, I was in pain and there was
She finally
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a knockout stench of burning kerosene around me. I realised my body was on fire," Momtaj said.
Her husband's family had poured kerosene on her and set her on fire.
Shamsul and his family stood by and watched as Momtaj screamed for mercy. Neighbours rushed to her help. They doused the fire and tried homemade remedies to sooth her burns.
Her parents, who live in another upazila, were informed and they rushed her to the nearby Jessore Sadar Hospital where she underwent preliminary treatment. She had suffered severe burns to 37 percent of her body. She was later shifted to the DMCH Burn Unit on June 18, when her condition deteriorated.
This week Momtaj is no longer around to complain about the brutality that was her life.
Momtaj's mother, Shahnaz, told The Daily Star that after Momtaj underwent a bypass surgery last year, doctors told her not to carry out any work that involved lifting of heavy objects. She has also been weak since the operation. She was thus not able to work around the house as much as she used to before.
Shamsul then demanded Tk one lakh from her father, which he described as 'compensation' for Momtaj's illness.
Her father Rabiul Islam, a farmer, had already paid Tk 1.5 lakh as a major portion of her bypass operation expenses. Despite that, Shamsul regularly beat up ailing Momtaj because her father had not yet paid the money.
"We are poor but we still gave Momtaj's husband furniture, gold jewellery and three oxen as dowry for the wedding," Shahnaz said.
She said her daughter returned home several times with severe injuries from her husband's beatings.
“But what could we do? We are too poor to look after her and her two children. So each time, we had to send her back to that monster," Shahnaz said as she broke down in tears.
Momtaj's brother Shimul Hossain has filed a case against Shamsul Biswas, his older brother Nurul Biswas, sister Anowara begum and his brother-in-law Abdul Hamid.
Not unusually, Shamsul has been absconding along with his family members since the incident.
No one has been arrested so far, officer-in-charge Abdul Kader of Kotwali Thana, Jessore, said yesterday.