Gazi Nazrul head down in the dock; first wife Maksuda weeps

It was 3:06 pm on Monday. Amid tight police security, member of parliament Gazi Nazrul Islam and his wife Maksuda Islam were brought out of the court lock-up. Although they were not handcuffed, they were fitted with helmets and bulletproof jackets.

Nazrul wore a mask over his face and a gold-coloured watch on his left wrist. Escorted by the police, they were brought up the stairs from the lock-up to Courtroom No. 8 on the fourth floor of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court in Dhaka and placed in the dock.

At 3:12 pm, police removed their helmets and bulletproof jackets. As the judge was not yet on the bench, Gazi Nazrul spoke with his lawyer. The judge took his seat at 3:14 pm and, after instructing everyone in the courtroom to remain quiet, commenced proceedings at 3:15 pm.

As the prosecution announced the case number along with the names of the accused—Gazi Nazrul, 75, and his wife Maksuda, 65—Gazi Nazrul bowed his head.

At that moment, his first wife, Maksuda Islam, stepped back behind Nazrul in the dock and began to weep. Throughout most of the hearing, Gazi Nazrul kept his head bowed, while his wife stood silently beside him.

The investigating officer, Sub-Inspector Shamsujjoha Sarkar of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station, submitted a seven-day remand plea for Nazrul Islam and Maksuda Islam.

Arguing in favour of the remand, he stated that when Marium Khatun died by suicide by hanging, the accused were present in the same residence. Remand interrogations were necessary to determine whether they had played any role in or influenced the suicide.

Opposing the remand plea, defence counsel Mahbubur Rahman applied for bail. Addressing the court, he argued that the accused was an honourable member of parliament and that both he and his wife were elderly.

He noted that the case concerned abetment to suicide, emphasising that Nazrul was a four-time MP, a distinguished freedom fighter, and his wife an educated lady with no involvement in the alleged offence. He prayed for the rejection of the remand application and for bail to be granted.

Contesting the defence’s arguments, Public Prosecutor (PP) Omar Faruq Faruqui told the court that the accused, Nazrul Islam, had lured the complainant’s brother-in-law with various promises to gain control over the deceased wife. He had effectively coerced her into marriage and taken her to various hotels and motels. However, following the marriage, he and his first wife subjected the second wife, the late Marium, to severe mental torture.

The PP said evidence of this was recovered in a suicide note written by Marium prior to her death. Unable to endure this prolonged mental torment, she met with this tragic end; she was driven to commit suicide, and it could hardly be regarded as a purely voluntary act.

He asserted that granting remand order of the accused was crucial to uncovering the mystery surrounding Marium's death.

At one point, PP Omar Faruq Faruqui remarked, "They belong to Jamaat-e-Islami. This is a reflection of their character." Intervening, the judge asked the PP to stop, stating, "Let us stick to the facts of this case and not bring in politics."

The PP replied, “Yes, what I mean to say is that they always preach ‘governance by righteous people’, yet this is the reality we observe. Remand of the accused is necessary to uncover the true facts.”

Gazi Nazrul raised his head slightly, looked towards the prosecution counsel, and then lowered it again. He quietly asked his wife to stop crying.

Subsequently, defence counsel Mahbubur Rahman submitted that the accused deeply loved his second wife and had no involvement in the incident. He assured the court that the accused would fully cooperate with the investigating officer, arguing that remand was unjustified as an unfortunate incident had already occurred and custody was unnecessary.

Upon hearing both sides, Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Ehsanul Islam’s court granted a four-day remand for Gazi Nazrul and a one-day remand for his first wife, Maksuda Islam, at 3:31 pm.

As Nazrul Islam and his wife were being led down from the dock following the order, several journalists asked them about the allegations. In response, Nazrul Islam stated, "The allegations against us are completely false. I was not at home at the time of the incident." When asked why Marium had taken her own life, he replied, "I do not know anything about it."

Later, at 3:34 pm, police personnel put the bulletproof jackets and helmets back on Nazrul Islam and Maksuda Islam before escorting them downstairs. At that moment, several lawyers standing on the court veranda began chanting slogans of "Fake, fake!"

The police safely escorted the accused back to the court lock-up via the stairs. Earlier, at 2:22 pm, Gazi Nazrul and Maksuda Islam had been brought to the court lock-up in a white police car.

Gazi Nazrul Islam was elected member of parliament from the Satkhira-4 constituency on a Jamaat-e-Islami nomination in the 13th Parliamentary Election. Last July, a video clip depicting intimate personal moments was circulated on social media, showing him with a young woman. Amid widespread discussion and criticism surrounding the video, Gazi Nazrul Islam publicly clarified that the young woman was his second wife, Marium.

On Sunday afternoon, police recovered the hanging body of Marium Khatun, 19, from a flat in the NAM Building in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar. Late that night, Marium's father, Masum Billah, 40,, filed a case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station, accusing them of abetment to suicide.

Police subsequently arrested Gazi Nazrul Islam and his wife Maksuda Islam in connection with the case. Nazrul Islam's former driver and Marium's maternal uncle, Obaidur Rahman, was also named as an accused and remains absconding, according to police.

According to police information, the flat in the NAM Building from which Marium's body was recovered had been allocated to Gazi Nazrul Islam in his capacity as an MP. He resided in the flat together with both his first and second wives.

The case statement alleges that at around 5:30 pm on Sunday, Gazi Nazrul telephoned Marium's father and asked him to come to the NAM Building flat urgently. Upon receiving the call, Marium's father rushed there accompanied by his sister-in-law, Sufia. On arrival, he found a large crowd gathered at the residence and subsequently learned that Marium had hanged herself inside an inner room. The room door was locked from the inside. With the assistance of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police and bystanders, the door was broken open, revealing Marium hanging from the ceiling fan by a scarf (orna). Police recovered a suicide note from Marium's bed at the scene.

Masum Billah stated in the case filing that he is a grocer residing in Gabura village under Shyamnagar Upazila in Satkhira. In June, his eldest daughter Marium was married to MP Gazi Nazrul in accordance with Islamic Sharia laws. Following the marriage, Gazi Nazrul lived with his second wife Marium at the NAM Building flat, where his first wife Maksuda also resided. From the outset of the marriage, the husband and his first wife subjected Marium to continuous physical and mental abuse over various matters—abuse that Marium frequently reported to her family over the phone.