Don't exhume her body
The mother of Maldivian medical student Raudha Athif does not want the exhumation of the body buried in Rajshahi after she was found hanging by the college authorities in her dorm.
She, however, believes her daughter was murdered, which was ruled out by the first autopsy report stating that the 21-year-old committed suicide.
The Criminal Investigation Department on Thursday refused a request from Raudha's mother Aminath Muharrimath for not exhuming the body.
Providing an explanation, CID Special Superintendent of Police Nazmul Karim Khan said the investigators didn't have any evidence in support of the family's claim, and so they wanted a separate medical team to examine the body afresh.
Meanwhile, Aminath, upset by CID's rejection, wrote on Facebook,
“I'm feeling so helpless. A mother's feelings have no value.”
Aminath told The Daily Star yesterday she firmly believed that Raudha, a second-year student of MBBS at Islami Bank Medical College, didn't commit suicide
Aminath flew to Rajshahi with the Maldivian ambassador in Dhaka a day after her daughter, who had appeared on the October 2016 cover of Vogue India, was found dead at her dormitory room on March 29. She stayed in Rajshahi for seven days until an autopsy on the body and its burial.
Aminath said she flew back home in the Maldives without filing a murder case because, she thought, it might require a second autopsy.
“I knew it [proving that it was a murder] was not possible without an independent autopsy.
“I didn't want to cause harm to her anymore. The truth is my daughter is not coming back. I left everything to God,” Aminath said.
Raudha's father Mohamed Athif, who filed the murder case against a student of the college, said many pieces of circumstantial evidence were there to prove that Raudha was murdered without exhuming her body.
He, a physician himself, however, said police should do whatever they thought necessary for a proper investigation.
“It is the duty of police to identify her killers,” Mohamed said.
Raudha's brother Rayyan Athif, 18, said religious extremists might have killed her.
He wondered why she would commit suicide without leaving a note.
Rayyan earlier told UK's The Sun Online that Raudha had been targeted for defending those bullied over religious controversies.
“Her style of clothing was branded as 'immodest' and 'un-Islamic' even though she adhered to the dress code of her college by wearing a scarf [to cover her head].”
Rayyan said he lost hope for justice for lack of evidence.
“Murder staged as a suicide. There is no proof of suicide either.”
Raudha's brother also pointed out that the initial investigation was weak and investigators let the evidence be destroyed after receiving reports of suicide.
Meanwhile, CID police yesterday called in 22 students and staff of Raudha's dormitory at Rajshahi CID office for interrogation.
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