Family Dispute Drives Mother to Fatal Poisoning in Narsingdi

A deep-seated family dispute in Narsingdi’s Shibpur Upazila has culminated in tragedy after a young housewife died from taking poison after administering the same toxic substance to her infant son. The catastrophic incident occurred following allegations of targeted physical abuse and domestic discord over the financial support of elderly relatives. While the mother succumbed to the poisoning during emergency treatment, her twenty-month-old son remains in a critical condition at a specialized medical facility in Dhaka.

The fatal chain of events unfolded in Brahmandi Madhyapara village, located within the Baghab Union of Shibpur. Investigators revealed that a long-running animosity had been brewing between two brothers, Badal Miah and Abdus Sattar—sons of Abdul Gafur—regarding the financial maintenance and daily care of their parents. This ongoing domestic friction frequently sparked bitter arguments and shouting matches between the siblings, creating an increasingly volatile atmosphere within the shared family homestead.

Escalating Physical Abuse and Sudden Desperation

According to formal complaints lodged by relatives, the sibling rivalry erupted into severe violence on Sunday, 5 July. During a heated confrontation over the unresolved parental maintenance issues, the elder brother, Badal Miah, allegedly launched a physical assault on Abdus Sattar’s wife, twenty-seven-year-old Arifa Begum. Witnesses claimed Badal struck Arifa repeatedly with a heavy piece of wood, leaving her injured. Adding to the family’s immense distress, Abdus Sattar was scheduled to board a commercial flight to Saudi Arabia on that very day for employment, forcing him to depart for the Middle East immediately after the initial altercation.

With her husband away and her primary source of domestic protection gone, Arifa was reportedly subjected to a secondary physical assault by Badal later that afternoon. Relatives believe that the compounding trauma, public humiliation, and relentless physical abuse drove Arifa to an act of absolute desperation. Unable to endure the hostility any longer, she mixed a lethal dose of poison and forced her twenty-month-old son, Riyadul, to swallow it before consuming the remaining substance herself.

Legal Intervention and Police Investigation

Upon discovering the mother and child unresponsive, frantic family members rushed both victims to a hospital in Dhaka for specialized treatment. Despite the best efforts of medical staff, Arifa lost her battle for life on Monday afternoon, 7 July. Her sole surviving son, Riyadul, was transferred to the Dhaka Shishu Hospital, where specialists are currently monitoring his fragile condition.

Receiving news of his wife’s sudden demise, a devastated Abdus Sattar cut short his employment trip and returned to Bangladesh on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, 8 July, he filed an unnatural death case at the Shibpur Model Police Station as the primary complainant. Law enforcement officials subsequently recovered Arifa’s body and dispatched it to the Narsingdi Sadar Hospital morgue for a mandatory post-mortem examination.

Apart from their hospitalized infant son, the couple has two older daughters, ten-year-old Toyaba and eight-year-old Hafsa, who are now left without maternal care. Mohammad Kohinoor Miah, the Officer-in-Charge of Shibpur Model Police Station, confirmed that external injury marks were visible on Arifa’s body during the preliminary inspection. He stated that a comprehensive investigation is underway to uncover the exact sequence of events, and strict legal measures will be enforced based on the pending autopsy findings.