Kamrunnahar Moni walked free from Kashimpur Central Women’s Jail on Tuesday after the High Court acquitted her on August 24 in a case involving the 2019 killing of Nusrat Jahan Rafi. She broke down as she embraced her seven-year-old daughter, Mobashwera Khanam Rathi.

Moni was arrested on April 15, 2019 while five months pregnant, and was produced in court on every working day of her trial. Her lawyers repeatedly sought bail and exemptions from personal appearances on the grounds of her pregnancy, but the court refused.

She gave birth to Rathi at Feni Modern Sadar Hospital on September 21, 2019. Moni calls her “Roza”.

On October 24, when the child was one month old, a lower court sentenced Moni and 15 others to death. Moni was sent to the condemned cell at Kashimpur with her nursing daughter, spending more than six years there.

Rathi grew up isolated from family and society within the confines of the jail. Moni said the two lived under constant restrictions, fashioning dolls from socks for her daughter. She said no one could understand what she and her daughter had gone through.

Also Read: HC upholds two death sentences in Nusrat murder case

Moni told the court she was innocent, alleging that she was tortured by officers from the Police Bureau of Investigation and that a statement was obtained from her after she was kicked in the abdomen and threatened with the loss of her unborn child.

She also demanded justice, alleging that she had been tortured and wrongly made a death-row prisoner.

Her mother, Nur Nahar, was unable to visit her granddaughter because of the family’s financial difficulties and debts.

Following the High Court ruling, Moni’s husband, Rashedul Alam Khan, described his years of suffering on social media.

He recounted being unable to touch his daughter because of strict security and distance, and said he had tried to see her through chains and wire mesh at the Feni and Kashimpur jails.

After lengthy hearings, the High Court bench delivered its verdict, acquitting 10 defendants including Moni, upholding the death sentences of two others and handing life terms to four.

Also Read: Nusrat’s mother welcomes verdict, demands family security

Nusrat Jahan Rafi was set on fire on the roof of the Sonagazi Islamia Fazil Madrasa on April 6, 2019. She was subsequently rescued and treated at Sonagazi Upazila Health Complex and Feni General Hospital before being moved to the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Nusrat died of her injuries four days later, after which her brother filed a case at Sonagazi police station. The trial arising from that case culminated in the High Court’s ruling.