Papia continues with uncontrolled crime in prison too

Shamima Nur Papia, a former leader of Jubo Mahila League who is now languishing in jail, continues her criminal activities even in the prison. She and a number of fellow inmates allegedly formed a criminal gang and tortured other general prisoners.

In a recent incident, Papia led an assault on an apprentice lawyer – Runa Laila – at the central jail for women in Kashimpur last month. Her involvement came to the fore in a report submitted by the jail’s senior superintendent, Obaidur Rahman, to the high ups on 5 July.

The report, addressed to the inspector general (IG) of prisons, noted that Papia and her accomplices beat up lawyer Runa Laila inside the prison. When the lawyer’s sibling Abdul Karim went to jail, the Papia gang deceived him too by making another woman impersonate Runa Laila during a telephone conversation with him.

It was learnt that the authorities took Runa Laila to the Kashimpur jail on 16 June in a case filed with Kotwali police station in Dhaka. The jail matron found Tk 7,400 in her cell during a search.

Later, Papia and her accomplices tortured Runa on 19 June to snatch the money. Runa received serious injuries in the assault and was left in a bloody and battered state.

An arbitration meeting, which is called case table in the jail, was called to settle the issue, but it led to clashes involving Papia, Runa and jail officials. Later, the authorities shifted Papia to Cumilla central jail at the beginning of this month.

Runa Laila walked out of jail after receiving bail on 27 June. She told Prothom Alo that the Papia gang took her to a secluded area inside the jail to snatch the money. As she refused, they beat her up mercilessly after tying her with a shackle.

“I requested Papia not to assault me, but she did not pay heed to my request,” she added.

According to the report, the female prison officers found no money while searching Runa Laila before formally receiving her in the jail. Acting on tip off, they later searched the ward-401 of the jail and seized Tk 7400 from Runa on 18 June.

During an arbitration meeting over the issue on 19 June, a matron – Fatema – misbehaved with Runa and hit her at one stage of altercation. Later, Papia and other inmates took the matter to their hands and beat up Runa Laila.

Obaidur Rahman said he recommended taking action against matron Fatema for assaulting Runa Laila. Besides, they sought written explanations from the three women prison guards who were responsible for searching and torturing Runa.

Asked about the issue, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan questioned the role of the DIG prisons, jail superintendent, and jailer over the incident. He expressed dismay, saying that such an incident should not take place had the senior officials performed their duties properly.

He also questioned how convicts dare torture other convicts.

There are some more allegations against Papia, including verbal abuse and intimidation. The prisoner record book noted that Papia hurled abuse at several inmates and intimidated them, let alone Runa Laila.

Besides, she objected when the jail authorities attempted to assign some other inmates to the Rajnigandha building of the jail. She also tried to bribe the prison guards to arrange a meeting with her relatives at Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College in Gazipur.

She used to change the prison cells of other inmates, without due permission. Also, the authorities recovered a smartphone and charger from her room during a search.

Papia used to conduct illicit activities in the rooms of five-star hotels. Sensing imminent legal action, she and husband Mofizur Rahman were trying to flee the country via the Dhaka airport, but the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested them there in 2020.

Later, she lost her position in the party. In an arms case, they both were convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison, with some other cases pending against them.