Demand for Tonu killers’ arrest gets louder
Dhaka: More people and organisations across Bangladesh lent voice to the demand for the immediate arrest and exemplary punishment of the killers of Comilla’s college student Sohagi Jahan Tonu as there has been no arrest even after seven days of her murder.
Protesters brought out processions, formed human chains in different parts of the country demanding justice for the college girl.
In Dhaka, Dhaka University students blocked Shahbagh intersection for half an hour in the afternoon to press for a four-point demand.
They demanded that the government arrest the killers within 24 hours, publish pictures of the rapists in media, ostracise them from the society and include gender and sex related topics in the school curricula.
The students also threatened to go on an indefinite strike at Shahbagh from Tuesday noon if Tonu’s killers are not arrested by the deadline.
Students of Jahangirnagar University also formed a human chain at the foot of Shaheed Minar in the afternoon demanding justice for Tonu.
Over 200 students under the banner of ‘Madak Birodhi Jote’ formed the human chain around 3:30pm.
The protesters demanded that the Prime Minister take steps to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Later, they brought out a rally from the Shaheed Minar which ended in front of Amar Ekushey Hall.
In Comilla, students of different colleges, including Comilla Victoria College, the institution the victim belonged to, and Comilla University, took part in a human chain blocking the Dhaka-Chittagong highway at Nandanpur Bishwaroad around 11:30am.
Several thousand students took to the streets demanding exemplary punishment of those responsible. They also placed logs on the road, torched tyers, disrupting traffic movement.
Later, the demonstrators withdrew the blockade around 2pm upon assurance by the administration over the arrest of the culprits.
Meanwhile, the long march of Ganajagaran Manch led by its spokesperson Imran H Sarkar reached Pubali Chattar in Comilla city around 4:35pm.
In Faridpur, students of four colleges participated in a human chain on Mujib Road in front of Faridpur Press Club from 11am to 11:30am, raising the same demand.
In Lakshmipur, ‘Priyo Laxmipur Jela’, a volunteer online organisation, formed a human chain in front of the deputy commissioner’s office in the morning.
In Pirojpur, the residents of the district arranged a human chain on Town Club Road in the district in the morning demanding the same issues.
In Sunamganj, a human chain programme was held at Altaf Squire in the district town at noon demanding justice for Tonu.
Sohagi Jahan Tonu, 19, a second year history student of Victoria College and a member of Victoria College Theatre, went missing on Sunday evening, hours after she had got out of her home at Comilla Mynamati Cantonment for private tuition.
Later, Tonu’s father Yar Hossain found his daughter senseless with severe injuries on her body at a bush adjacent to his home.
She was then whisked off to Combined Military Hospital where doctors declared her dead. It is suspected that she had been raped before the murder.