Khadija Akhter Nargir’s father Mashuk Miah on Thursday sought Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s intervention to ensure exemplary punishment of his daughter’s attacker Badrul Alam.
“I’m seeking Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s intervention to ensure speedy trial of Badrul Alam. If exemplary punishment is ensured, no one will dare to repeat such a barbaric incident,” he told journalists at Square Hospital in the city.
Mashuk Miah, who has been working in Saudi Arabia for 20 years, retuned home early Thursday. Then he rushed to the Square Hospital, where his daughter Khadija has been kept on life support. Khadija’s brother Shamim Ahmed also returned home from China yesterday.
Meanwhile, her 72 hours observation period has already passed and the hospital authorities have sought another 24 hours for further observation. However, her father said his daughter’s condition is now better than before after the operation.
The hacked college girl Khadija Akhter Nargis, 23, has been kept on life support at Square Hospital since Tuesday.
She was shifted to Square Hospital in Dhaka from Sylhet in a critical condition early Tuesday after being stabbed in the head, hands and legs by a Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leader Badrul Alam in Sylhet on Monday.
Khadija, an honours second year student of Sylhet Government Mohila College, came under attack on the campus on Monday afternoon by Badrul, also a student of Economics Department at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST).
Meanwhile on Thursday, thousands of protesters again took to the streets in capital Dhaka as well as Sylhet city demanding immediate justice for the deadly attack on the college girl Khadija.
The demonstrators comprising students, teachers, right activists and common people continued their demonstrations for the 3rd consecutive day yesterday demanding capital punishment of BCL leader Badrul.
They will continue their protest until Khadija gets justice, they said.
Students and teachers of Sylhet Government Women’s College arranged a protest rally in the city around 10:00am yesterday and submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister through the District Administration.
Carrying Khadija’s picture and posters, the protesters also formed a human chain at the college gate at Tilagarh.
“This is a protest to demand justice for Khadija who was so mercilessly stabbed, we demand justice for girls who are brutally killed by terrorists everyday,” a protester said.
“We want exemplary punishment, today they kill us, tomorrow they will kill you,” the protesters chanted.
“This barbaric attack may amount to crimes against the humanity and the attacker must be given exemplary punishment,” another protester said.
They put up a barricade on Zindabazar-Chowhatta-Ambarkhana road and staged demonstrations around 10:00am.
Later, they marched towards the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet.
They submitted a memorandum with a four-point demand to the Prime Minister through the Deputy Commissioner.
Their demands include exemplary punishment of the attacker, ensuring the trial of the attacker in a speedy tribunal and Prime Minister’s intervention in ensuring security for women.
Former students of the college also staged demonstrations in front of Sylhet Central Shaheed Minar in the morning. The students of Women’s College also organised a protest rally on the college campus.
Cross-section of people, including students, professionals, staged protest rally at city’s Chouhatta, Zindabazar, Tilagarh, on the same demand. Meanwhile, the residents of Khadija’s village Hausa in Sadar upazila staged demonstrations at the village, demanding punishment of the attacker.
Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLUST) and the Alumni Association of Sylhet Government Women’s College also organised protest programmes.
Besides, several hundred people of Hausa, the village of Khadija in Sadar, blockaded Sylhet-Sunamganj highway to press home their demand for exemplary punishment of the BCL leader.
They also demanded of the government to transfer the case to the speedy trial tribunal (STT).
Parading different city streets, they handed over memorandum to the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Education Minister through Additional Deputy Commissioner (Education) Syed Mohammad Aminur Rahman.
The memoranda contain four-point demand. These are shifting the case to the STT to ensure capital punishment for the perpetrator, ensuring Khadija’s better treatment, providing financial assistance to the victim’s family and taking measures to ensure girl students’ safety.
From the DC office, the protesters chanting slogans gathered in front of Central Shaheed Minar and formed a human chain blocking Chowhatta-Zindabazar road. Traffic on the road halted for half-an-hour because of the blockade.
Different organisations have also formed human chain and staged protest rally in front of Sylhet Government Women’s College. The organisaions include Sylhet Government Women’s College Alumni Association, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services (BLAST), Nationalist Online Activist Forum and Sylhet Friends Club.
