TONU RAPE, MURDER : Protests continue

Protests continued on Thursday in the capital and elsewhere in the country as the police failed to  make any headway in the investigation into the rape and murder of Comilla college student Sohagi Jahan Tonu on March 20 night.
Police investigators said they failed to arrest anyone even after 11 days of the brutal killing, despite the investigation officer being changed thrice and her body exhumed for a second postmortem.
Ten days after the incident, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman on Thursday visited the spot where the body was dumped.
Mizanur said if the crime scene has already been contaminated and he would suggest that the people behind it are punished.
The NHRC chair said ‘the spot where Tonu’s body was found was changed. That means the crime scene evidence might have been contaminated. This is unexpected and is also a violation of the evidence act. I call for the punishment of those who did this.’
Based on the request of the investigators, the body was exhumed for postmortem and buried on Wednesday.
The NHRC chairman said he believed the second postmortem examination was important as the first postmortem failed to answer many queries.
‘If justice is established through Tonu, it will uplift everyone’s image. We don’t want to see any more George Miahs,’ Mizanur said referencing to the ‘falsely’ implicated individual in the August 21 grenade attack case.
The hospital officials said the result of the postmortem would take time.
The protesters, meanwhile, have called a strike at all schools and colleges across the country on April 3 demanding immediate arrest of the perpetrators and their exemplary punishment.
They alleged that the police were ‘intentionally’ delaying investigation into the case as they ‘are helpless’ with regard to arresting the possible perpetrators.
They blamed that a ‘gang’ in the meantime has started destroying the crime scene and were creating obstacles to the investigation.
Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a second-year student of Comilla Victoria College and activist of college theatre, was found dumped at Alipur in Comilla cantonment area on the night of March 20.
The victim’s father Yar Hossain, also a Comilla cantonment board clerk, filed a murder case with Kotwali police station on March 21.
Different organisations, especially student-led organisations, continued their protest in the capital, Comilla and elsewhere across the country on Thursday for the arrest and trial of the perpetrators.
Bangladesh Students’ Union on Thursday morning started their pre-declared march to the Prime Minister’s Office which the police foiled, leaving four students with injuries from police attack, said witnesses.
The leaders then held a rally at Shahbagh intersection and called a student strike on April 3 at all schools and colleges of the country. They also committed to continue protests until justice was ensured for Tonu.
Meanwhile, several departments of Dhaka University also formed a human chain on campus demanding justice for Tonu.
Under the banner of ‘No more deaths like Tonu…’ the students covered their eyes in black bandanas and stood in silence near Jatiya Press Club demanding justice for Tonu.
New Age correspondents from different districts all over the country reported that different organisations staged protests demanding the perpetrators be brought to book immediately.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net