A group of eminent citizens on Tuesday demanded fair and impartial investigation into the death of child domestic help Preeti Urang.
Preeti died after falling from the residence of the sacked executive editor of The Daily Star, Syed Ashfaqul Haque, in the Dhaka鈥檚 Mohammadpur area.
They made the demand at a press conference at Moulvibazar Press Club which was held after the on-site inspection under the banner 鈥楥onscious Citizen鈥檚 Society.鈥�
In a written statement, Kushtia Islamic University assistant professor Farha Tanzim Titil said that a team of 12 representative members from civil society for on-the-spot monitoring visited the Mirtinga and Murichara tea gardens of Moulvibazar on Monday and Tuesday.
She said that the team talked to Khushi Urang and Durgamani Bauri, who worked at Ashfaqul Haque鈥檚 house earlier, and Preeti鈥檚 parents.
The statement read that repetition of the same event could not be an accident as another house help sustained severe injuries after falling from a window of the building on August 4 in the past year.
The team claimed that Preeti鈥檚 age mentioned in the case statement was exaggerated.
They alleged that domestic helps, including Preeti, who worked at Ashfaque鈥檚 house, were regularly subjected to physical abuse.
They demanded that work wages, medical expenses and education expenses should be provided to the affected children.
They also said that justice must be ensured through a fair, impartial and expeditious investigation into what happened to Preeti and the other children.
Their demands also included providing financial compensation to the families of Preeti and Durgamani.
Association for Land Reform and development executive director Shamsul Huda, Drik researcher Samia Rahman Preema, Bangladesh Adivasi Chhatra Sangram Parishad president Alik Mree, Bangladesh Adivasi Youth Council president Harendranath Singh and others were present among 12 civil society representatives.
Preeti Urang, a minor girl and the daughter of a tea worker in Moulvibazar, died falling from Ashfaq鈥檚 eighth-floor flat at Mohammadpur in the capital on February 6.
Ashfaq and his wife, Tania Khondoker, have been in jail soon after the victim鈥檚 father filed a case over the death of his daughter.