Charges framed against former Daily Star editor and wife over teenage domestic worker’s death

A Dhaka court has framed charges against former The Daily Star executive editor Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife, Tania Khondoker, in the case concerning the death of a 15-year-old domestic worker who fell from their apartment building.

The couple appeared before Judge Md Alamgir of the Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court-1 in Dhaka and pleaded not guilty after the charges were read out. They are currently on bail. The court also rejected a petition seeking their discharge from the case, according to court bench assistant ASM Shahadat Ali.

Preeti Urang, from Moulvibazar, died after falling through an open eighth-floor window at the couple’s flat in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur area at about 8 a.m. on February 6, 2024. Her father filed a case against Haque and Khondoker the following day, accusing them of negligence.

On March 31 this year, Detective Branch sub-inspector SM Mahmud Reza pressed charges against the couple under Section 304A of the Penal Code, which concerns death caused by negligence. The next hearing has been set for January 4, 2027.