A Dhaka court on Thursday placed madrasa teacher Hafez Md Zakaria on a three-day remand in a case filed over the murder of child student Md Nayeem Sheikh, whose body was recovered from a madrasa in the capital’s Rayerbagh area.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbub Alam passed the order after a hearing.
Another teacher arrested in the case, Hafiz Md Zubayer Ahmed, 20, has been sent to jail, while the hearing on his remand application has been referred to the juvenile court.
Earlier in the day, both accused were produced before the court from jail. Prosecutor Harunur Rashid Khan pleaded for remand, while defence lawyer Dewan Imdadul Alam sought bail after opposing the remand prayer.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court granted a three-day remand for Zakaria.
According to the case documents, police recovered Naeem’s body from a bathroom on the third floor of Rawajatul Ulum Hifzia Noorani Madrasa in the Jorakhamba area of Rayerbag on 3 August.
On the same day, Nayeem’s mother Nazma Begum filed a murder case with Kadamtali Police Station, naming two people as accused. Police arrested both accused from the madrasa later that night, and they were sent to jail through court on 4 August.
On 5 August, case investigating officer Kadamtali Police Station Sub-Inspector (SI) Amjad Hossain applied for a five-day remand of the accused. The court later fixed 13 August for the hearing in the presence of the accused.
The case statement alleged that NaZma’s two sons were students at the madrasa and that teachers had tortured Nayeem for various reasons. It said that when Nayeem informed his mother about the alleged abuse, she decided to bring him back from the madrasa, but the accused refused to provide a clearance certificate.
The complaint further alleged that the accused became angry because Nayeem no longer wanted to continue his studies at the madrasa and continued torturing him.
According to the case, Nayeem told the teachers at around 1pm on the day of the incident that he would not study there anymore. The accused allegedly beat him severely following the statement.
The case alleges that Naeem was suffocated to death sometime between 1pm and 2:30pm on the same day.
