Bangladeshi Man Cuts Off Wife’s Fingers for Seeking Higher Education

A man in Bangladesh has cut off his wife’s fingers to punish her for studying, according to reports.

Rafiqul Islam, 30, severed the fingers on the right hand of his 21-year-old wife, Hawa Akther Jui, in early December because she had the temerity to seek higher education without first seeking his permission.

BBC reported that Islam has confessed to the ghastly crime.

Police reportedly told media that upon returning from the United Arab Emirates, Islam – an uneducated migrant worker -- tied his wife up and taped her mouth shut prior to removing her digits.

Doctors said my fingers could be reattached within six hours, but he refused to give them. After that time, another relative of my husband threw the fingers in a dustbin, Hawa told media.

We finally recovered them [the fingers], but it was too late.

Hawa is apparently still determined to enroll in college.

My right hand has been cut off, but I can use my other hand, she told The Daily Star, Bangladesh's English-language newspaper.

Human rights activists in Bangladesh and elsewhere are demanding that Islam receive a severe punishment in the wake of one of the most horrific domestic abuse cases seen in the country in recent times.

Hawa is now recovering at her parents’ house.

She told BBC: I have now started practicing writing with my left hand. I want to see how far I can go. I never imagined that my fingers would be chopped off like this because of my studies.