Advisor Hasan Arif dies at 82 amid daughter-in-law’s abuse allegations

Staff Correspondent

Interim government advisor for Civil Aviation, Tourism, and Land, AFM Hasan Arif, passed away due to cardiac arrest on Friday at 3:10 PM at LabAid Hospital in Dhaka. His assistant private secretary, Md. Abed Chowdhury, confirmed the news to the media.

LabAid Hospital’s emergency department stated that Arif was declared dead upon arrival.

AFM Hasan Arif, a former attorney general and advisor to multiple governments, faced allegations of familial abuse. His daughter-in-law, Madhabi Akhtar Nila, accused him in a July press conference of pressuring her to give her unborn child to his childless daughter. She alleged that her refusal led to physical abuse, a false case, and her subsequent imprisonment for over a month while pregnant.

During her imprisonment, Nila gave birth to her second child but was barred from meeting her elder daughter. She sought the court’s intervention to regain custody and claimed her father-in-law orchestrated her plight.

Nila later filed a case on December 2 against Hasan Arif’s son, Moazz Arif, for allegedly assaulting her inside Dhaka Club. Police are investigating the case, said Deputy Commissioner Masud Alam of DMP’s Ramna Division.

Born in Kolkata in 1941, Hasan Arif graduated from St. Xavier’s College and completed his LLB from the University of Calcutta. After starting his career at the Calcutta High Court, he moved to Dhaka and served at the Bangladesh High Court.

Hasan Arif was Bangladesh’s attorney general from October 2001 to April 2005 during the BNP-Jamaat alliance government. He later served as an advisor to the caretaker government under Fakhruddin Ahmed in 2007.