‘Halal Brothel IMB’ owner Mufti Qasemee arrested on torture charges

Police on Sunday evening arrested Mufti Mamunur Rashid Qasemee, the controversial founder of the so-called Ideal Marriage Bureau (IMB), from his flat in Keraniganj’s Atibazar area.

The arrest follows a criminal case filed under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act by his third wife, Tamanna Hatun, who accused him of continued sexual assault after verbal divorce, forced abortion, and sustained physical and mental torture. 

Tamanna Hatun first broke her silence on October 16, with an explosive Facebook post in which she declared: “He does not pray, he takes drugs, he has married nine times, and under the banner of a marriage bureau, he runs a halal brothel.” That single post triggered a nationwide scandal.

Three weeks later, an hour-long investigative documentary aired by Ekushey Television on 6 November exposed a trail of underage marriages (including a documented case of a 13-year-old girl), systematic trafficking of widows and divorcees for cash, and the use of twisted religious arguments to justify serial predation. 

Since the fall of the elected government in August 2024 and the subsequent rise of hardline Islamist factions, Bangladesh has witnessed an alarming escalation in extremist rhetoric and action. Calls for “jihad” and full imposition of sharia have become commonplace at rallies. Moral policing squads—often enjoying tacit state protection—have carried out public floggings, forced women into burqas, and, in several documented cases, tortured or murdered those labelled “immoral.”

Women’s rights activists have recorded a sharp spike in violence against female students, journalists, and minority women, with perpetrators frequently invoking religious justification. 

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It is precisely in this atmosphere of state-tolerated radicalisation that figures like Qasemee have thrived. By wrapping predatory behaviour in the language of polygamy and “saving” vulnerable women, he built a lucrative empire that preyed on the very segment of society the new moral guardians claim to protect. 

Tamanna Hatun’s courageous complaint has finally pierced that façade. Her allegations are gruesome: after pronouncing verbal talaq, Mufti Qasemee continued to rape her, forcibly impregnated her, and later—with the help of relatives, made her swallow abortion pills against her will. 

Qasemee sells bikes and cars from SBI Car Market and burqas from the online shop SBI Market and runs Taqwa Land Society, a land development business. He is also a director of Markazus Shareeya Al-Islamia, Bangladesh madrasa. He uses his official Facebook profile and pages for promotion.

The arrest marks the first high-profile crackdown on a figure who openly profited from the post-August radical surge. Yet activists warn it must not be the last. “This is not one bad apple,” said women’s rights lawyer Sara Hossain. “This is the rotten tree that has been allowed to grow unchecked since last year. Unless the entire network of religiously justified exploitation is dismantled, more Tamannas will suffer in silence.” 

As Bangladesh lurches between competing visions of faith and freedom, the handcuffs placed on Mufti Qasemee yesterday send a fragile but vital message: no amount of clerical garb can place a criminal beyond the reach of the law.