Four Bangladeshi women killed in domestic violence in UK in 2 years

Four Bangladeshi women were killed by their husbands in the United Kingdom in the last two years.

The deceased are Yeasmin Begum, Ayesha Hasan, Soma Begum and Kulsuma Akter.  The incidents took place between March 2022 and April this year. Courts have sentenced one accused to 33 years in prison and another to 21 years in two separate cases. The other two cases are under trial.

These incidents of murder over ‘family feud’ have given rise to concern among the Bangladeshis living in the UK.

In the first incident on 24 March in 2022, 40-year old Yeasmin Begum was killed by her husband Quayum Mia, 41, on 24 March in 2022. Yeasmin, a mother of three, was killed in Bethnal Green area in East London.

The couple used to live separately due to a feud and the divorce was under process during the incident. On the fateful day, Yeasmin returned to her home after leaving her children to school and found her ‘drug addict’ husband Quayum was trying to steal valuables from the house. As Yeasmin tried to deter Quayum, he stabbed and killed her, then ran away with cash, bank cards and jewelry.

Police arrested Quayum and he was later sentenced to 33 years in jail by a court on 9 June in 2023.

On 19 May 2022, British-Bangladeshi woman Ayesha Hasan (34), a mother of two, was murdered by her Pakistani-born husband Asim Hasan (32) in her flat in East London’s Kennington.

According to the details of the incident, Asim returned home from work early that morning. Asim started torturing Ayesha on the suspicion that his wife talks to someone else. He stabbed his wife 36 times in the head. Later he called the emergency service number himself and informed about stabbing his wife. The police recovered Aisha's body. At that time Asim said, “I am guilty. You can charge me.”

But Asim later told the court that he did not intend to kill his wife. On 6 July in 2023, Asim was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

In the third incident, 24 year old Soma Begum was killed at her flat in East London’s Docklands on 30 April in 2023.

According to the allegation, Soma’s husband Aminan Rahman, 45, killed her in front of two children. Aminan dumped the body in the river in a large suitcase.

After killing Soma, Aminan reported Soma's disappearance to the police. While investigating, the police came to know that Aminan had killed Soma and hid her body. After 10 days of the murder, the police recovered Soma's body from the River Thames. A complaint was filed against Aminan in this murder incident. The case is currently under trial in court.

On 6 April this year, Habibur Masum hacked his wife Kulsuma Akter to death in broad daylight in Bradford.

Habibur and Kulsuma would live in Old Ham since their arrival in the UK in 2022.  But police separated them due to family feud and incident of torture. The UK government shifted Kulsuma and her child to adjacent Bradford town considering her safety.

As per the allegation, Habibur went to Bradford following Kulsuma. As she went to a shop to buy iftar items, Habibur hacked Kulsum in front of a grocery shop in the presence of her child. Kulsuma died after being taken to hospital.

Police arrested Habibur three days after the murder. His brother Maruf and four other relatives were also arrested in suspicion of abetting in the murder who are now on bail. The case is undergoing trial.

This correspondent talked with Syeda Choudhury, a councilor of Redbridge in London, about the increase in family feud and murder among the British-Bangladeshis.

She told Prothom Alo that London city has become costlier, post-Brexit and Covid. Middle and lower-middle income people are gasping to adjust with the cost of living in the city.  Economic strain is one of the major reasons behind these violent incidents. Moreover, drug addiction and gambling are also contributing to an increase in domestic violence.

According to the UK’s national statistics bureau, a total of 2.1 million people above 21 years were victims of domestic violence between April 2022 and March 2023. Of these incidents, police are investigating over 800,000 cases.