Minni denied bail again

Aysha Siddika Minni lost her second battle for bail on Tuesday in a case over the murder of her husband Rifat Shorif in Barguna.

Judge Md Asaduzzaman of Barguna District and Sessions Judge’s Court passed the order after hearing the petition.    

Earlier on July 21, she was denied bail in the Barguna Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court.

The video footage of the June 26 murder stirred the social media. Minni was seen trying to save her husband from the attackers.

Rifat, 23, went to pick up her wife from college where assailants beat him up and later chopped the youth to death in broad daylight. Minni was the key witness in the case filed subsequently by Abdul Halim Dulal, victim’s father.

The case took a different turn as Dulal in a press conference pointed finger at Minni. In response to the allegation, she said her father-in-law was “making imaginary claims being influenced by conspirators”.                      

On July 16, Minni was taken to the district police chief’s office for questioning. After daylong integration, police showed her arrested over the alleged involvement in the murder. The next day a court granted police five days to quiz her.        

As no lawyer stood for the accused, the court allowed Minni to defend. Claiming her innocence, she told the court: “Rifat Shorif is my husband. I want justice over my husband’s murder. I’m not involved in the assassination. I have been framed in the case by conspirators.”             

A parliamentary standing committee meeting also raised its eyebrow over how police showed the wife arrested. One committee member also smelled a rat doubting the investigation.

Amid the controversy and suspension, the wife was produced before a court where, according to police, she confessed her part to the murder. On July 22, Minni’s appeal for withdrawing the ‘confessional statement’ was turned down by the court.