10-month-old Mahida getting necessary facilities in condemned cell

The government today submitted a report to the High Court saying that the 12-month-old child Mahida, who has been living with her mother Husna Akter in a condemned cell of Sylhet Central Jail, is being provided with necessary food and clothes, and has facilities for treatment and playing.

A day-care centre has been set up with necessary equipment, including learning toys for the children, who are with their convicted mothers, at a 45 by 22 feet room in Sylhet Central Jail.

Hotchpotch, eggs, milk, and bananas are supplied regularly to the children (till six years), and they are provided with small mosquito nets, the inspector general of prisons and senior jail super of Sylhet Central Jail said in the report.

They submitted the report through Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Amit Das Gupta before the HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque in compliance with its earlier order during the hearing of a writ petition.

The bench asked DAG Amit Das Gupta to place this report by filing an affidavit before it and fixed January 28 for further hearing on the matter.

Following the petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Md Tanvir Ahmed, the bench on December 17 last year ordered the jail authorities to enquire and to submit a report on the physical and mental conditions of Mahida as she has been living with her mother Husna Akter, who was convicted in a criminal case on October 26 last year, in the condemned cell of Habiganj district prison.

Husna Akter and her child Mahida were brought to Sylhet Central Jail on December 9 from Habiganj jail, according to the report.

Advocate Tanvir submitted the writ petition as a public interest litigation to the HC on December 14 following a newspaper report under a headline "Fashir cell e kemon achhe 10 masher Mahida" (how is 10-month-old Mahida faring in a death cell) on November 30.

The newspaper report said Mahida has been living with her mother Husna Akter in a 10/10 feet condemned cell at Habiganj jail. The cell has an iron gate of 14 rods, but it has no door. There is four feet high wall in the cell's bathroom, which has a broken door.

Mahida has been physically and mentally weak and it lost two kgs in one month as there is no adequate feeding facility in the condemned cell, according to the newspaper report.