Dr Humayra Abedin, a trainee general practitioner with the UK’s NHS, has at last been released following a directive from Bangladeshi High Court. She had been held captive by her own parents for four months and subjected to violent beatings.

She was even on the verge of committing suicide, she had said in an e-mail during her captivity.

She was lured to Bangladesh by her parents after she rejected their choice of her future husband and was imprisoned in her Dhaka home. Following intense campaigning by human rights activists, the court stepped in.

Dr Abedin’s parents were ordered to hand over her passport, and she was given a police escort to the British High Commission. She was understood to be staying with friends tonight before flying home to London.

Justice Syed Mohmed Hossain said: ‘Children are not the slaves of their parents. They must have their own freedoms. If I were to reveal what Humayra has said in her statement then her parents would be in trouble. What I have heard reminds me of the dark times, the old ages we had in Bangladesh.'

He added: 'She requested the court not to put her parents in trouble because of what they did to her.

'But I am saying what you (the parents) have done to her is not acceptable. If there's any further problem you will be in big trouble.'

Dr Abedin trained as a doctor in Bangladesh before coming to Britain in 2002, when she studied for a Masters in public health at Leeds University. She trained at Whipps Cross Hospital in East London and was due to start in a GP’s surgery in August.