TONU RAPE, MURDER No headway in 3 years

‘Can you tell me when our wait for justice would end,’ Anwara Begum is tired of asking with none to take the question.
She is the mother of Cumilla Victoria College student Shohagi Jahan Tonu who was murdered after raping inside the protected Mainamati Cantonment three years back.
The unending distress to the mother in her fifties is caused by the fact that the police investigators made no headway in the investigations in last three years.
In emotion chocked voice Anwara Begum told New Age, ‘Now I am in doubt whether I will get justice in my lifetime’. 
In the afternoon of March 20, 2016, then a 2nd year honours student of history and member of Victoria College theatre troupe, Tonu left her residence at Alipur Staff Quarter inside the cantonment to teach her students living nearby.
Within hours at about 11.30 PM her body was found in a bush inside the cantonment.
Tonu’s rape and murder in the protected area sparked countrywide protests.
Police told New Age that more time was needed ‘to solve the sensational case.’ 
Not a single suspect could be arrested as no eyewitness was found until now, said the police.
Rights activists expressed serious disappointment over what they called unjustifiable delay in completing the investigations and expressed doubts whether the victim’s family would ever get justice.
Anwara said that grief over daughter’s fate made he her husband Yaar Hossain bedridden and that his health was gradually worsening. 
Yar Hossain is above 60.
She herself cannot sleep without taking sleeping pills. 
‘My husband cannot do his daily cores without others’ support,’ said Anwara. 
‘The investigators keep mum whenever we inquire whether any headway in investigations were made,’ she said in despair. 
‘We want to meet the prime minister. Only she can help us if she wishes,’ Anwara said seeking assistance of journalists and police to meet her. 
Anwara repeatedly tried over the past one year to speak the Criminal Investigation Department officials investigating the case. 
But the CID officials did not take her phone calls and she could not meet anyone of them at the CID office during her visits there over the year. 
‘We have nowhere to seek justice except from Allah,’ was the blank answer of Tonu’s elder brother Md Nazmul Hossain.
On March 21, 2016, a day after the rape and murder, Tonu’s father Yaar Hossain, a civil staff of the cantonment, filed a case with the Cumilla Kotwali police station against unidentified offenders. 
On March 28, 2016, the case was transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department for investigation.
Yaar and his wife Anwara still live at their Alipur Staff Quarter, their relatives said adding that their two sons were compelled to leave the quarter and were constantly shadowed.
They said that Tonu’s parents now virtually live in captivity.
Like previous years, investigation officer of the case and CID’s senior assistant superintendent of police Jalal Uddin told New Age on March 7 that the probes would be completed ‘as soon as possible’.
He said that they have so far interrogated over 200 people, including some military personnel, and now they were conducting DNA profiling and matching in order to identify the perpetrators.
He said if they get any new information from the sources, they immediately verify and crosscheck them. 
The delay in probes raised doubts in public mind whether the victim’s family would ever get justice, said Ain o Salish Kendra executive director Sheepa Hafiza.
She said that people want to know who raped and murdered Tonu.
The people also want to know why the investigators are taking so long to solve the mystery, she said.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net