Staff Reporter :
A Dhaka Court on Sunday granted bail to Hasna Hena, a teacher of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, who was arrested in a case filed on charge of provoking a ninth-grader to commit suicide.
Metropolitan Magistrate Baki Billah passed the order considering her age and as there was no specific allegation against her.
Three teachers of the institution were sued on charge of instigating a student to commit suicide. They are Acting Principal Nazneen Ferdous, Morning Shift in-Charge Zinat Akhtar and class teacher Hasna Hena.
Victim’s father Dilip Adhikary filed the case with Paltan Police Station on December 4, a day after Aritree committed suicide after the teachers scolded her for using cell phone in the examination hall.
A Dhaka court on Thursday rejected Hasna Hena’s bail petition and sent her to jail on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a group of students from Viqarunnisa School and College boycotted the classes and observed a three-hour long hunger strike demanding release of Hasna Hena on Sunday.
The strike began at 10am in front of the school’s main gate on the Bailey Road.
They ended their hunger strike by drinking water offered by the teachers around 12:50pm.
Around 200 present and former students, teachers and guardians joined the hunger strike.
The students said that they would continue the hunger strike until Hasna Hena was freed. Then a group of teachers met them around 1pm and broke their fast with water, took the students inside the school gates before another programme was announced.
The students previously announced that they would boycott classes on Sunday, but the school conducted its annual examinations.
According to the protesters, Hasna Hena did only what a school teacher was supposed to do. The protesters say though she was not responsible for what happened, she became a ‘victim of circumstance’.
Unrest broke out on the campus of a renowned Dhaka school after Aritry committed suicide at her home in Shantinagar on Dec 3. Aritry’s family claimed that she was caught with a mobile phone during an examination and her parents were called in for a meeting with the principal, where they were ‘mistreated’.
According to the school authority, Aritry was caught cheating on the examination with a mobile phone.
A group of Viqarunnisa students and guardians protested against the circumstances of Aritry’s death the day after her suicide. It continued for three days. The Ministry of Education found the three teachers responsible behind the murder and recommended to take legal action against them.
Detectives arrested Hasna Hena from the city’s Uttara on Wednesday night amid protests of students over the suicide incident.
