Dhaka: The High Court on Tuesday summoned two policemen, including the officer-in-charge of Madaripur Sadar Police Station, to appear before it on March 29 over keeping two women detained for long after detaching their children on breast milk.

An HC bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Mohammad Ullah asked OC Ziaul Morshed and sub-inspector Mahtab to appear before it in person and explain the incident.

Following a writ petition, it also issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain as to why the inhuman incident of keeping two mothers into police custody for 13 hours after detaching their children on breast milk away from them should not be declared illegal and unlawful.

The Home Secretary, IGP, DIG, Madaripur Police Super and OC of Sadar Police Station were made respondents to the rule which is returnable in four weeks.

Advocate Fawzia Karim, President of Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers Association (BNWLA), Advocate Shovana Banu and Naznin Ara Ahmed stood for the petitioner.

Firoze said the court asked the IGP to submit a report after investigating the incident.

Rana Kawsar, a lawyer, filed the petition on Monday attaching a newspaper report headlined ‘Two mothers suffer for 13 hours falling victim to SI’s vengeance’.

According to the writ petition, SI Mahtab had an altercation with one Panir, son of Khaleque Bepari, while investigating a land-related complaint at Laxmiganj.

Furious, the police officer picked up Panir’s wife Jhunu Begum and his sister-in-law Aklima Begum to the police station after keeping their three-month and 18-moth-old children respectively away at home.

The two women were released at midnight upon bond.