Gruesome murder of 9-year-old shocks Dhaka

Boy died after co-workers inserted nozzle of air pump in his rectum.

The Bangladesh police Monday arrested a spinning mill worker for allegedly torturing a nine-year-old boy to death with an air compressor, the second such incident in less than a year, officers said.

Sagar Barman died of internal injuries in a Dhaka hospital late on Sunday after his family alleges eight workers were involved in forcing the compressor into the boy’s rectum and turning on the machine.

The boy also worked at the Zubaida Textile Mills in Rupganj town, just south of the capital, one of millions of child labourers in impoverished Bangladesh, many employed in hazardous industries. “We have arrested the mill’s assistant administrative officer. We’ve also launched a hunt for others accused including three production managers who were named in the case,” Rupganj police chief Ismail Hossain told AFP.

Hours after the arrest, the police alsoo raided the mill, one of thecountry’s largest, and rescued 27 child workers, many of them aged under 14, Mr Hossain said. “The children were returned to their families. There are some 4,000 workers in the factory,” he said, adding that the police suspect still more children were employed there. The police were still searching for the mill’s owner and managers who have fled since the boy’s death and face charges of underage employment, he said.

Police inspector Jasim Uddin, who is investigating the death, said senior mill employees had been “angry” with the boy and his father who also worked there for entering a restricted area. The boy had apparently gone to clean near a compressor at the mill, which supplies yarn to textile factories making clothes for Western retailers.