A schoolgirl along with her grandmother were set on fire allegedly by her step brother at Joydebpur in Gazipur yesterday afternoon.
Sanjida Akter Ayesha, 13, a seventh-grader at a local school, is fighting for her life at the intensive care unit of Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery. She had 52 percent burns on her body, hospital sources said.
He grandmother Baby Begum, 50, is receiving treatment at the hospital's High Dependency Unit with 50 percent burns.
The incident took place around 1:30pm at Bagherbazar Shirirchala village as Sanjida was returning home from school with her grandmother.
The girl's step brother and some of his accomplices, including two females, intercepted them and poured petrol on their bodies and set them on fire, alleged Sanjida's father Shafiqul Islam.
Locals first rushed them to a local hospital in Gazipur from where they were shifted to the burn institute last night.
Shafiqul said he married Monira, the mother of the alleged assailant, in 2015 after Sanjida's mother Iva Islam died in 2013. Monira's two sons and a daughter from a previous marriage used to live with them.
"As the two sons derailed, I drove them away from my house. Last month, Monira also left us, stealing Tk 9 lakh from my house and later served me with a divorce letter. Then, I filed a case against them," Shafiqul said, adding his step son and his accomplices set his daughter and his mother on fire for filing the case.
"On Wednesday, Shuvo waylaid Sanjida on her way home from school and threatened to kill her if I do not withdraw the case," he said.
They then filed a general diary in this regard, Shafiqul added.
Mahtab Uddin, officer-in-charge of Joydebpur Police Station, said Sanjida's father filed a case against four persons in this regard and police arrested one of the accused from Mymensingh.
Police are trying to arrest the other accused, he added.
