Mohammad Shahabuddin takes oath as Bangladesh's new president
Dhaka (PTI): Veteran politician Mohammed Shahabuddin was sworn in as the 22nd president of Bangladesh on Monday at a state ceremony attended by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her cabinet colleagues.
Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury administered the oath to 73-year-old Shahabuddin at the historic Durbar Hall of Bangabhaban. Besides premier Hasina and family members of the new president, politicians, Supreme Court judges, and senior civil and military officials attended the event.
Shahabuddin succeeds Abdul Hamid whose tenure ended on Sunday. After the swearing-in ceremony, Shahabuddin signed the oath documents for the office of the president.
He was elected as president unopposed in February this year as a candidate of the ruling Awami League.
Despite being largely ornamental head of the state, the office of the president draws extra attention particularly during the general elections as he appoints the prime minister and becomes the constitutional guardian of the country.
Bangladesh is set for general elections in December or in January next year, amid growing diferences between the ruling Awami League and its main opposition the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) over the electoral system.
In a media interview last week, Shahabuddin, a lower court judge, said it was largely the responsibility of the Election Commission to create the atmosphere to encourage voters to cast their votes and expected the independent constitutional body to play its due role.
He said, after assuming his office, he would review the political situation and assess if he needed to play any role in minimising disputes between the political parties.
Born in 1949 and hailing from the northwestern Pabna district, Shahabuddin is a retired district judge who later served as one of the commissioners of the independent Anti-Corruption Commission.
He later joined politics and became a member of the Awami League Advisory Council, which comprises senior party leaders and technocrats, but his election to the highest office would require him to relinquish the party post.
In his early life, Shahabuddin was a leader of the Awami League's student and youth wings and took part in the 1971 Liberation War.
He was imprisoned following the 1975 assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of Prime Minister Hasina. In 1982, he was inducted into the country's judicial service.
Shahabuddin's wife Rebeka Sultana is the former joint secretary of the government. The couple has one son.
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Jharkhand horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body into 40 pieces
Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.
