Mother freed from jail after 'murdered' son appears

A Bangladeshi woman who spent nearly eight years in prison for murdering her son has been freed after the boy turned up alive, it was reported today.

Kamala Khatun and her second husband, Mizanur Rahman, walked free from jail in Sherpur district, 90 miles north of the capital, Dhaka, on Friday, The Daily Star reported.

In 1997, Khatun’s first husband – the father of her son, Faruk – accused her and her new spouse of killing the boy. Although no body was found, a court convicted the couple of murder and sentenced them to life in prison.

Faruk, now 19, presented himself to the authorities in February and said his father had abducted him eight years earlier and kept him hidden all that time, the newspaper reported.

Human rights groups took up the case with the High Court which ordered Khatun and Rahman’s release earlier this month, the report said.

The court also ordered an investigation into the false prosecution.

Khatun demanded that her ex-husband be punished for her sufferings, the report said.