Efzalul and Anjuma Khatun, a young couple of Bouyipara under Uttom union, had been subjected to the fatwa (religious decree) that eventually spared none of the family from the terrible ordeal.

Efzalul yesterday narrated the plight of his family at the office of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (Blast), a human-rights organisation.

Efzalul said that, on July 15, at one stage of a typical husband-wife altercation he in a fit of temper uttered the word 'talak' (divorce).

Three days later when they had almost forgotten the trivial incident, local religious leadership of the village came to his house and asked him to send his wife to her parents.

He was also told that he would have to live without Anjuma unless she performs a 'hilla' (marry someone else other than his husband).

They warned him that he would have to face dire consequence if he continues to live with his wife.

"Both my wife and me outright rejected the so-called decree and continued to live together," said Efzalul.

But the religious leaders stuck to their 'judgment' and kept insisting on his sending Anjuma to her parents, he added.

On September 23, a group of people led allegedly by Hafez Mannan, Munsi Montaz, Mominul Islam, Saidul, and Sultan swooped on their house. His father Alef Uddin and mother Rezia Khatun were seriously wounded in the attack that also left the house badly damaged.

Alef Uddin was sent to Rangpur Medical College Hospital.

They repeatedly threatened to kill the family members if the couple does not comply with the fatwa.

"Since then, all my family members have been on the run," said Efzalul.

Efzalul, a day-labourer, said they were leading a happy conjugal life despite poverty. But after they were forced to flee their house with the 11-month-old son, they are passing the worst days of their lives, he continued.

Efzalul said he had filed a case with Kotwali Police Station but the police are yet to arrest anyone in this connection.

The superintendent of police in Rangpur yesterday told The Daily Star that he did not know anything about the incident. He, however, said the culprits must be nabbed, if anything such had really happened.

The legal aid and human-rights organisations in Rangpur have condemned the incident at Bouyipara and urged the administration to take action against the culprits.

The co-ordinator of Blast said they along with other human-rights organisations in Rangpur plan to bring out a procession to protest the 'inactivity' of the law enforcers regarding the fatwa incident.