A housewife in Naria upazila of Shariatpur has held a press conference alleging long-term physical and mental torture, beatings and rape threats and extortion of 20 lakh taka by a person named ‘Sohan’ against her in-laws.

The press conference was held at her husband’s house at 9:30 pm yesterday (February 24).

She said that since her marriage, her mother-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law have been harassing her in various ways. They pressured her to register a land next to the house in the name of her younger son. When her husband refused, they started threatening to throw her out of the house. She alleged that at one stage, she was locked inside the house with her baby for about an hour.

In 2022, when she was three months pregnant, she was physically assaulted at night. Under the pressure of the situation, she was forced to take shelter in her father’s house. Later, after receiving the news of her father-in-law’s death, she returned to her in-laws’ house. Since her husband was abroad, the situation was normal when he was in the country, but when he went abroad, the torture started again.

She also said that she was being repeatedly threatened to throw her out of the house and that her children were also attacked. She was pressured to remove the tables and furniture brought for her children’s studies. She was even threatened to be evicted by hiring goons.

At the press conference, she alleged that a person named ‘Sohan’ had threatened to extort 20 lakh taka. She said that if she did not pay the money, she and her children were threatened and even raped.

Currently, she is in extreme insecurity with her children and strongly demanded a proper investigation and legal action from the concerned administration.