A highly sensitive incident of murder after rape has been intentionally suppressed by police allegedly advised by an influential quarter. It is the murder of Cumilla Victoria College student and cultural activist Shohagi Jahan Tonu. Meanwhile, her fourth death anniversary passed off silently on Friday. Like the victim’s family members, we are also still in dark about the progress of the investigation. She was a second year honours student of History department and also a member of Victoria College theatre group when she was killed inside the protected Mainamati Cantonment in Cumilla on March 20, 2016. On the day, Tonu left her Alipur Staff Quarter residence inside the Cantonment to provide tutorials to her students residing at the same area. Later, her body was found in a bush in the Cantonment. A day after the murder, Tonu’s father Yaar Hossain, a civil staff of the Cantonment, filed a case with the Cumilla Kotwali police station against unidentified people.
Though such a murder in a highly protected area shook the nation and sparked off protests across the country, the police and local administration had played a very dubious role. Till the date, not a single suspect could be arrested by the police. Police on the other hand said they found no eyewitness of the crime and are now working to find a match through DNA tests. Despite severe protests of people from all walks of life, especially rights campaigners and students, the government didn’t pay any heed to the incident. In the course of time, the murder incident case was shelved. This year too, no organisation took any programme to mark the death anniversary. Only Tonu’s family arranged a prayer session at the mosque of Mainamati Cantonment. Victim’s mother Anwara Begum said she wanted to see justice in the murder of her daughter in her life time.
We’re doubtful whether the police are sincere enough to crack the Tonu murder. There are several murder incidents in the country which still remain unsolved due to different social, economic and political reasons. Police are not forthcoming.
