Charge-framing order in expatriate woman’s murder case deferred to Nov 11

A Dhaka court has deferred its order on framing charges against five accused in the 2023 murder of Canadian expatriate Mosammat Afroza to November 11.

Judge Mohammad Sarwar Alam of the Dhaka Tribunal for the Prevention of Offences against Public Security was scheduled to deliver the order on Monday (october 19), but postponed it as he was busy with another case, court bench assistant Md Hasan Ali said.

Afroza was allegedly hacked to death with a machete and buried in Dhaka’s Dakshinkhan area on May 26, 2023. Her brother, Ariful Islam, filed a murder case with Dakshinkhan Police Station.

On December 24, 2024, investigation officer SI Rezia Khatun submitted a charge sheet against five people, including Afroza’s husband, Ashraful.

Ashraful allegedly fled to Canada after the murder but was arrested at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on February 12 this year after returning to Bangladesh. He remains in custody.

The other accused are Afroza’s father-in-law, Shamsuddin Ahmed; brother-in-law, Sajib Alam; Sajib’s wife, Tahmina Bashar; and aunt-in-law, lawyer Panna Chowdhury. All four are on bail. 

M. A. L/AH