Beware of brides to be! Yes, this is a warning for bachelors looking for their partners. There is no reason to think girls of marriageable ages are weak and vulnerable. At least a betrothed girl Rabeya Sultana Ritu from Jashore has proved her mettle both as a daring darling and an intriguer. Her marriage was settled with a lawyer through negotiations at the family level. Now she has every right to call her would-be husband for dating. Invited by Ritu, the man engaged with her comes to meet her for spending a happy and romantic time. But lo, what happens next beats the wildest imagination!
She asks her man to visit her friend from school years and he readily agrees. They are heartily received by her friend and friend's husband. At some point, Ritu secretly takes leave and the guest is tied with a rope by his hosts. He is taken a hostage. In fact it was all pre-planned. The girl with whom he was engaged plotted with the couple to take him hostage for ransom. The unsuspecting lawyer was subjected to physical beating and was forced to ask one of his friends to transfer Tk 10,000 to a bKash account, which the friend did.
However, that was not the end of his travail. Now his captors demanded Tk 3,000,000 for his release from the captive's family. It was at this point the captor's father went to the local police station for a genera dairy (GD) and then informed the police bureau of investigation (PBI). Prompt interference by the PBI could rescue the lawyer and arrest his captors on February 10 last.
Now, the police superintendent of the PBI, Jashore disclosed, in a press briefing, the details of the plot made by the betrothed girl in cooperation with her friend and friend's husband. This incident will definitely make bachelors think twice before accepting a proposal for an outing with a fiancé. It is always the reverse ---perhaps in 99 out of 100 cases --- girls or women are so duped and ultimately fall victim. Although a crime is a crime whoever ---irrespective of genders ---may have committed it, in this case at least one thing has been proved. Ambition and avarice beyond limit, makes people blind and at that tipping point commit terrible acts. This Jashore girl was overambitious and along with her friend and friend's husband had criminal records, confirms the police superintendent.
It was an anti-climax for the bachelor lawyer. From a world of romanticism, he was suddenly brought down to a cruel, harsh and mundane plane. The trauma suffered by the young man will stay with him as long as he lives. But he may at least feel the empathy with the numerous girls and women who are lured with false promise to suffer the worst sexual and physical abuses by the Romeos who often commit those in a group.
If this story has all the elements of an Agatha Christie thriller or a Hollywood/Bollywood movie, there is yet another bizarre incident unravelled by the police of Daudkandi police station. Here the mother of a class III student of village Tinpara under Daudkandi upazila informs the police station of her son's abduction. In reality, the woman in collusion with her sister and sister-in-law (brother's wife), plotted a false abduction drama in order to extract money from her migrant husband. The telephone call list helped the police find out the truth and rescue the boy from Jatrabari in the capital.
A gruesome murder committed reportedly by a woman in a Swamibag room further unfolds putrid social rot at its worst. But let that subject be skipped for brevity's sake. What emerges from all such ugly incidents is the fact that trust, fidelity, honesty and mutual understanding have become a casualty in this digitised and robotic age. All because, people are no longer content with plain living. Almost every mortal wants to accumulate as much money as possible and lead a life of luxury. It is time, people reined in their unrestrained ambition and consumerism.
