Woman's hair cut off and chilli powder smeared on her in Jhenaidah: main accused arrested

Police have arrested Anna Khatun (39), the main accused in a case filed over torturing a woman in Karatipara village of Jhenaidah Sadar upazila by cutting off her hair and smearing chilli powder on her body over an allegation of an extramarital affair. She was arrested on Saturday, two days after the incident.

She was arrested at around 2:30pm on Saturday from a house in Kapashatia village of Harinakundu upazila. Anna Khatun is the wife of Anwar Hossain of Karatipara village in Sadar upazila. Police said she had been in hiding until her arrest.

According to Sadar police station and the victim's account, over suspicion of an affair with Anwar Hossain of Karatipara village, his wife, two daughters and son went to the woman's home and tortured her. The sources said the family carried out the attack on the basis of that allegation.

It is learnt that on Thursday afternoon the woman was sitting at her own home in Karatipara village. At that time a man named Abdur Rashid from the neighbouring Narayanpur village came to the house, threatened her over the allegation of a relationship with Anwar Hossain of Karatipara, and left.

Within a short while, Anwar Hossain's wife, two daughters and son entered the victim's home. At one stage of an argument, they cut off the hair of her head and smeared chilli powder on her body.

Hearing her screams, family members rescued her and took her to a local rural doctor for treatment. As the incident spread through the area, anger grew among local people.

Later, on Thursday night itself, the victim filed a case at Jhenaidah Sadar police station naming five people as accused. After the case was filed, police moved to arrest the accused.

The victim told the media on Friday that Anwar's wife took scissors out of a bag while the others held her down. The woman then cut off her hair, after which they smeared chilli powder on her body and left.

Jhenaidah's Additional Superintendent of Police (media) Sheikh Billal Hossain said that since the case was filed, the police's Cyber Crime Investigation Team, the Detective Branch and the Sadar police station team have been conducting operations to arrest the accused. Several teams took to the field together.

At one stage, on a tip-off on Saturday afternoon, police learnt that the main accused, Anna Khatun, was hiding at a house in Kapashatia village of Harinakundu upazila in the district. Acting on that information, they raided the house and arrested her.

Operations to arrest the remaining accused in the case are continuing, the Additional Superintendent of Police said. With the main accused caught, police expect the rest to be arrested soon as well.