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After deferring a verdict five times, a Dhaka court has ordered a fresh investigation into a case over instigating the suicide of Aritri Adhikary, a ninth grader at Viqarunnisa School and College.
Dhaka 12th Additional Metropolitan Session Judge Abdullah Al Mamun was scheduled to announce the verdict on Thursday.
At 11:00 am on Thursday, Bench Assistant Rahimul Karim Akondo Himel said the date of the verdict would be deferred again.
Later, around 1:00 pm, he said that the judge gave verbal instructions to the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to conduct a reinvestigation of the case.
“Why a reinvestigation was ordered will only be known after the full order is received.”
The case reached its final stage on November 27 following the arguments presented by the prosecution and the defence.
Initially, the court fixed January 21 for the verdict, but the date was pushed back to Feb 8 as the verdict was not prepared.
The verdict was deferred again for the same reason and a new date of March 3 was set. Two other dates - April 9 and June 3 – also came and went. The last date fixed for the verdict announcement was on Thursday, July 25. It was then that the judge ordered a reinvestigation.
The two accused in the case - Nazneen Akhtar, then acting principal of Viqarunnisa School and College and Zinnat Ara, then morning shift headmistress - are out on bail. Both were present at the court.
If proven guilty, they may face 10 years in jail and fines under Section 306 of the Criminal Code of Procedure.
WHAT HAPPENED
On December 3, 2018, Aritry’s body was found hanging from the ceiling fan of her room, which was locked from inside, in her home in Dhaka’s Shantinagar. School authorities had punished her for allegedly cheating on an exam the day before.
While school authorities claimed she cheated using a mobile phone, her family claimed she did not.
Aritry’s parents were called to the school and the school authorities allegedly insulted them in front of her. She died by suicide on the same day.
Her classmates began to stage protests over her death.
Her father, Dilip Adhikary, started a case on December 4 for instigating Aritry to kill herself. Police arrested her teachers. They were subsequently released on bail.
Dilip said in the case dossier that Aritry could not bear the insult to her parents and the trauma of not being allowed to sit for exams as the reasons why his daughter took her own life.
Following an investigation, DB police indicted Nazneen and Zinnat on March 28, 2019.
The ‘cruelty and inappropriate behaviour as teachers’ by the accused instigated Aritry to die by suicide, DB said in its document.
Her class teacher Hasna Hena was also named in the case but was dropped from it.
The trial against Nazneen and Zinnat began on Jul 10, 2019.