KALADAN NEWS

Date: April 25, 2005

 

A Burmese teenage Girl Committed Suicide in Bangladesh Refugee Camp

 

Cox’s Bazar, April 25: A Burmese teenage girl committed suicide taking poison in a refugee camp of Bangladesh on April 23, 2005 after taking an altercation with her mother, said Amin, a refugee from Kutupalong camp.

 

The teenager is identified as Faruni alias Fatema Khatun, 14, daughter of Noor Ahmed from shed No. 208, Hill No. 2 of Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp under Ukhiya police station of Cox’s Bazar District, he further said.

 

On 22nd April, she had an altercation with her mother for money to buy some clothes for her. But she was refused to pay by her mother because of shortage of money. In absence of her mother, she sold some of her ornaments to someone in the camp for buying some clothes.  She was severely beaten by her mother for selling her ornaments and asked her to take back all the sold ornaments. She was also threatened either to death or expel out of the shed, if she failed to comply the order, said Rahima Begum, a friend of Fatema from the camp.

 

The next day, on 23rd April, while her mother went to nearby shed to see her relatives; the Fatema again sold the rest of the ornaments to buy some poison. She managed a small packet of rat killing poison from nearby shop by a refugee boy. After coming back of her mother from her relatives, an altercation was occurred again between daughter and mother over the ornaments. This made Fatema very upset and swallowed poison entering inside the room while her mother was sitting out side of the room, she said. 

 

A few minutes later, Fatema was continuously vomiting and made noises and was going to senseless. Her mother and nearby people rushed to the house and immediately brought her to the camp clinic but she was referred to the Ukhia Health Center. The medics of the Ukhia Health Center also could not able to take care of the patient. Then the medics referred again the patient to the Cox’s Bazar District Hospital.  She was dead on the way to hospital at about 2:00 pm, Saiful Islam, driver of Ambulance of refugee camp, who was taking her to hospital.

 

Her dead body was sent for postmortem to the Cox’s Bazar Hospital. Afterward, the dead body was carried to the refugee camp and buried in the refugees’ grave yard yesterday, he further added.

 

A government case was filed by the camp officials in the Ukhiya police station under the section of premature death, said a police officer of the refugee camp.

 

 

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