Staff Reporter :
Government Titumir College student Siddiqur Rahman, whose eyes were damaged in police action during a demonstration at Shahbagh on July 20, has been flown to India for better treatment.
The flight carrying Siddiqur left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 1:00pm.
The government will bear the cost of Siddiqur’s treatment as instructed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The Health and Family Welfare Ministry has arranged for Siddiqur’s treatment at Sankara Nethralaya Hospital in Chennai.
Siddiqur is accompanied by his brother Nawab Ali and Dr Zahidul Ahsan Menon, Assistant Professor of National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital.
National Institute of Ophthalmology Director Golam Mostafa said it could not be said how much time he would need for treatment.
National Institute of Ophthalmology Associate Professor for Glaucoma Iftekhar Md Munir under whom Siddiqur was being treated said on Wednesday evening that the condition of Siddiqur’s eyes remained unchanged.
‘He (Siddiqur) cannot see out of his right eye and sometimes can see ‘light’ from a side of the left eye,’ said Iftekhar.
Siddiqur’s sustained critical injuries in both the eyes as, according to video footage, a member of police fired a teargas shell directly at his face from close range during the protest of the students of seven colleges affiliated with Dhaka University at Shahbagh intersection on July 20 for exam schedule.
The police, however, in the first information report, claimed that Siddiqur was injured as a flower tub thrown by students targeting police crushed into his face.
Assuring further investigation into the incident, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Tuesday regretted as Siddiqur’s eyes were damaged during police action.
The Health Ministry on Monday said that the government would take Siddiqur to Chennai for his treatment.
