Tale of a spoilt youth

She committed the otherwise unimaginable act -- killing son with her own hands -- as there was apparently no other way to save herself from a most humiliating encounter.

Halema Begum, 48, was found sitting beside the body of her son Hazrat Ali, 24, when police rushed to the house around 11:00am on Wednesday, said Nazmul Haque Bhuiyan, officer-in-charge (OC) of Tangail Model Police Station.

"She told the law enforcers that she hacked her son to death with an axe in the early hours as he was making advances to her after taking drugs.

"Halema's elder son Abdul Hamid filed a case with the police station in this regard, and she was sent to jail after making a confessional statement to the court under Section 164 the same day," the OC said.

Visiting the house at Binnafair village under Dainna union in Tangail Sadar upazila on Friday, this correspondent found an eerie silence prevailing there.

“My drug addicted son Hazrat Ali ultimately turned into a beast,” said Halema's ailing husband Amzad Hossain.

“My mother has not done anything wrong. But I have become complainant of the case as my brother was killed,” said Hamid, an auto-rickshaw driver, adding that earlier they did everything to bring Ali to normal life. 

Hamid's wife Asma Begum said, "Hazrat Ali left study when he was a Class VIII student of a local school. He later started taking drugs and would create odd scenes at the house to press for money."

“Five years ago, he was sent to Malaysia and the family had to borrow money for the purpose. But he was sent back to the country after a few months as his visa was found to be fake,” she said.

Hamid said they later managed a Class IV job for Ali at Tangail municipality office but he left the job after only three months.

After returning from Malaysia, Ali started taking drugs again and became known to the villagers as a drug addict, said local union parishad member Shajahan Miah, also a neighbour of the family.

He later became so aggressive that he would beat his mother when she refused to give him money, he said.

A mobile court recently sentenced Hazrat Ali to six months' imprisonment for taking and possessing drugs, said his younger sister Amina Begum.

“After release from jail, he promised that he would not take drugs any more if he was given Tk 10,000. And our mother gave him the amount,” she said.

“But after a few days, he demanded money again. This time our mother refused and that made Ali crazy,” she added.