Photo : Collected
There has been an uproar over the suicide of Fairuz Abontika, a student of Jagannath University (JnU), in Cumilla. Abontika, daughter of the late Jamal Uddin, a former professor of Cumilla Government College, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of her house at Bagichagaon on Friday night.
She was buried at her family graveyard in Shasangachha area of Cumilla city on Saturday afternoon. Her Namaz-e-Jananza was held on Cumilla Government College premises at 3 pm. A good number of people, including her classmates, teachers, relatives, and locals attended the Janaza.
Meanwhile, police arrested Raihan Siddique Amman, a student of JnU's law department and a classmate of Fairuz, along with the university's assistant proctor, Dean Islam, on Saturday night. Earlier, a case had been filed against these two individuals for allegedly instigating Fairuz Abontika to commit suicide.
On Saturday morning, a human chain and a protest rally were held in her district, Cumilla, demanding the arrest of the accused and bringing them to trial.
The JnU students on Saturday also staged demonstrations on the campus with a six-point demand, including fair trial and the arrest of the accused in connection with the death of Fairuz, a Law Department student of the university.
The students made this demand in a protest march organised under the banner ‘Jagannath University Against Oppression.’
The students’ procession paraded the entire campus, starting from the Shanto Chattar premises of the university and ending at the same place.
Rezwan, a student of the Economics department, presented a 6-point demand in the protest programme.
The six-point demands are: fair and impartial investigation into the death, arrest of accused student Amman Siddique and Assistant Proctor Deen Islam, their immediate expulsion through an emergency Syndicate meeting, providing maximum security to the victim's family, filing of a case by the university administration as the plaintiff, and establishment of a sexual harassment cell at the university.
They threatened that if their demands are not met within 24 hours, they will siege the administrative building at 11 am on Sunday.
Abontika's mother, Tahmina Shabnam, said, “My daughter was very talented. She lived in Kaltabazar of Dhaka. At the proctor's instigation, some boys and girls went there and tortured her mentally. After coming home, my daughter said to me that they are mentally torturing me like this. They are being fuelled by the university to torture me.”
She also said that Rafi, Amman, Mahia, Lucky, Rimi, Ankhi, Banya, Deen Islam are responsible for this incident. “They threatened me with the police. I heard that the police members are from their locality. Later, I informed the matter to the DIG. In other words, they made my talented girl die by persuasion in a planned way. I lost my husband a few days ago. Now I am very calm after losing my daughter,” she added.
Abontika was found hanging from the ceiling fan of her house at Bagichagaon on Friday night. She was taken to Cumilla General Hospital where the on-duty doctor declared her dead at 10:15 pm.
Prior to her fateful step, she made a post on Facebook where she accused her university's assistant proctor Deen Islam and her classmate Raihan Siddique Amman of her suicide.
Messenger/Fameema
