Fugitive Bangladesh cricketer jailed over child maid torture

DHAKA (APP) - Fugitive Bangladesh cricketer Shahadat Hossain was remanded in jail on Monday shortly after he surrendered to a court over allegations of beating his 11-year-old maid, his lawyer said.

Hossain, who has played 38 Tests for Bangladesh, went into hiding more than three weeks ago after police sought his arrest for allegedly abusing the girl he employed illegally in his home.

The 29-year-old cricketer, who has also played 51 one-day internationals for Bangladesh, was suspended from all forms of the game on September 13 over the allegations.

"Shahadat surrendered to the court today. We will now take action in accordance to the directives of the court," Inspector Shafiqur Rahman, who was investigating the case against the paceman and his wife, told AFP.

The court in Dhaka later remanded the cricketer in jail after denying his request for bail, his lawyer Arif Rahman told AFP.

He surrendered to the court one day after his wife, Nritto Shahadat, was arrested on Sunday at her parents' home in Dhaka. Shahadat, who denied wrongdoing, was also taken into custody after a court denied her bail.

Both face charges of assaulting a child and employing a minor. Police raided the couple's house last month after the maid, Mahfuza Akter Happy, was found crying in a street in the capital.

She has told police and local media that the couple beat and tortured her, while television footage showed her looking frail and thin with swollen black eyes.

Police have said one of her hands had been burnt with a hot cooking paddle, while other injury marks were also found on her body.