JnU student’s death: Cumilla court places classmate, teacher on remand

A Cumilla court on Monday placed Jagannath University’s suspended student Raihan Siddique Amman and teacher Deen Islam on a two- and one-day remand, respectively, in a case filed over the death of Fairuz Abontika, a student of the university.

Cumilla Judicial Magistrate Court-2 Judge Abu Bakar Siddique passed the order after the accused were produced before the court with prayers for a five- and two-day remand, respectively, said Kotwali Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Firoz Hossain, reports UNB.

The court also ordered the investigation officer of the case filed to submit a report within seven days, he said.

Abontika, a student of the 2017-18 academic year of the JnU Law Department, hanged herself at her Cumilla residence after accusing her classmate Amman and teacher  Deen Islam , who was relieved from the post of assistant proctor of the university, in a Facebook post around 10 pm on Friday.

In the Facebook post before committing suicide, Abantika said that her classmate Amman Siddique and assistant proctor Deen Islam would be responsible for her suicide.

'If I ever die by suicide, my classmate Amman Siddiqui and assistant proctor Deen Islam, who supported him, will be solely responsible for my death. I complained to the Proctor's office that Amman was threatening me offline and also online but I did not get any benefit. Deen Islam scares me in many ways for the sake of Amman. He said that expelling me is very easy for him. I know I won't get any justice here,” she wrote.

Hours after death of Abontika by suicide, massive protest broke out and continued till Saturday morning, demanding justice for the student.

In the face of student movement, the university authorities were compelled to relieve the assistant proctor and suspend the student to assuage the movement.

Besides, the university administration formed a four-member probe committee with Masum Billah, dean of the Faculty of Law, as the convener and Law Officer Ranjan Kumar Das as the member secretary.

On Saturday, the protesting students announced to besiege the Vice Chancellor’s office on Monday to press home their six-point demand.

Members of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested the teacher and student from Dhaka on Saturday night.

The DMP handed over the duo to Kotwali police station to take next action in this connection on Sunday.

DMP Additional Commissioner Dr Kha Mahid Uddin at a press conference on Sunday said they found partial authenticity of their involvement with the death of Abontika during the preliminary investigation.