Schoolgirl Risha killing: protests continue

Students of Willes Little Flower School and College and their guardians on Monday continued protests on the school premises and its adjacent road, demanding that the suspected killer of the school’s Class VIII student, Surayia Akhter Risha, be brought to justice.
Surayia, 15, daughter of Ramjan Hossain of Siddikbazar in the capital, who was stabbed in the abdomen by a stalker on August 24, died from her injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital Sunday morning.
National Human Rights Commission chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque in a statement on Monday termed the killing a clear violation of freedom of movement and life and overall violation of human rights.
The NHRC chairman, expressing his deep concern, also said that panic gripped the minds of schoolchildren and their guardians and such activities were threatening law and order of the country.
‘Any citizen of an independent and sovereign country has the right to move freely on roads. And, the state is responsible to ensure the right,’ he said.
He also called for immediate arrest the alleged killer, Obaidul Khan.
On the day, the students, their guardians and teachers arranged a mourning programme about 11:00am on the school premises where they wore black badges and carried posters demanding justice for Surayia.
The school’s flag was kept at half mast.
Education minister Nurul Islam Nahhid joined the mourning and assured the students and guardians that the suspected stalker and killer would be arrested soon and he would be given ‘exemplary punishment’ so that none in future would dare to commit such a crime.
The victim’s father, Ramjan Hossain, demanded justice in his daughter’s killing.
The school’s acting principal, Md Abul Hossain, said that they had decided to name the school’s information and communication technology laboratory after their slain student Surayia to preserve her memory.
Later, towards 12:00pm, the students began demonstration blocking the road adjacent the school at Kakrail intersection, halting traffic and triggering severe tailbacks in the area.
The students also continued their demonstration inside their campus.
Spokesperson of a Ganajagaran Mancha faction Imran H Sarkar joined the demonstration about 2:00pm and expressed his solidarity with the movement.
The agitating students said that they called off the blockade from the intersection about 2:15pm after Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Ramna zone assistant commissioner Shibli Noman assured them that the killer would be arrested within 48 hours.
Police said they had already collected the killer’s photograph, his present and permanent addresses and his arrest was only a matter of time.
The students, however, said that they would resume their movement Tuesday noon if the killer was not arrested by the time.
Surayia sustained severe injury as she was stabbed in the abdomen allegedly by a tailoring shop worker, Obaidul Khan, of Elephant Road in front of the school on August 24. Students had rushed her to the DMCH.
The victim’s family and classmates alleged that Obaidul used to stalk and disturb Surayia.
Her classmate Munia told New Age that she came to know that her friend Surayia, being badly disturbed by the stalker Obaidul, slapped him some days ago.
Shoyaib, another classmate of Surayia, said that he saw Obaidul fleeing with a blood- stained knife in his hand after stabbing his classmate.
Ramna police station officer-in-charge Moshiur Rahman said that none was arrested in connection with the killing.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net