Preeti Urang's death: Daily Star executive editor, wife denied bail again
At the hearing, the defendants' lawyers said they will appeal against this order in the High Court
A Dhaka court has once again turned down the bail petition of Executive Editor of The Daily Star Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker in a case filed over the death of a teenage domestic help at their home in the capital's Mohammadpur area.
Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Mohammad Assam Jaglul Hossain passed the order today (21 March).
The defendants' lawyers Advocate Ehsanul Haque Somaji and Ashraf Ul Alam pleaded for bail on any condition while the prosecution opposed. After hearing both sides, the court rejected the bail plea.
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After the hearing, the defendants' lawyers said they will appeal against this order in the High Court.
On 7 February, Syed Ashfaqul Haque and Tania Khondoker were sent to jail after a court denied them bail in the case.
On 13 February, the couple were granted a four-day remand in the case and on 18 February, they were sent to jail again after the remand.
On 6 February, Preeti Urang, daughter of a tea worker in Moulvibazar, fell to her death from the eighth-floor apartment of Syed Ashfaqul Haque in Dhaka's Mohammadpur.
The next day, her father, Lukesh Urang, filed a case with Mohammadpur police station, against Ashfaqul Haque and his wife, Tania Khondoker.
Following the filing of the case, both accused were promptly arrested.
Lukesh, in the case, said Preeti fell from the apartment due to the absence of safety bars on the window of the flat's drawing space. He highlighted that a similar incident occurred in August last year, where another housekeeper sustained severe injuries from falling out of the same window.
Lukesh attributed these repeated accidents to the negligence and carelessness of the house owner and occupants, emphasising the lack of protective barriers on the windows as the root cause.
