Memorial for slain blogger Ananta to be unveiled today
"Gyaner Jyoti Chhorabe Ananta, Anantakal" (Ananta will radiate the light of knowledge for eternity) is a name given to a monument newly constructed at Bankalapara of Sylhet city in memory of Ananta Bijoy Das, a freethinker and blogger, who was barbarically killed last year.
The monument was built on the spot where he was hacked to death in broad daylight by a group of assailants.
"I am here, where the sun rises, oh my beloved motherland, we will change you, you and me...," reads an epitaph on the monument.
Arup Baul, the designer of the monument, said, "Ananta was an inspiration to freethinkers and science writers as well as artists like me. This headstone represents his pen, writings and thinking as well. It will send out the message that a writer may be killed, but his writings will remain for good."
One year into the murder, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is yet to submit charge sheet in the case.
The CID, however, arrested two students of the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (Sust)--Mannan Rahi and Abul Khair -- as suspected killers of Ananta.
Mannan admitted before a Sylhet court that he, accompanied by Khair and three others, hacked Ananta to death on May 12 last year for his write-ups "that promoted freethinking".
"Four persons were involved in the murder pursuant to the confessional statement Mannan made before the court. We have not been able to arrest the rest of the killers yet," said Mirza Abdullahel Baqui, special superintendent of CID of police, adding that once all the others were arrested, they would submit a charge sheet.
Asked for comments in this regard, Prof Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal of the university said, "One year has passed without any visible headway into the investigation since he was murdered. We are losing ours hopes. We stoutly demand justice for the killings of Ananta and other freethinkers, writers and teachers murdered by assailants in recent years."
The monument will be unveiled today at 11:00am, on the occasion of his first death anniversary.
The initiative was taken by some fellows of the slain blogger, who painted graffiti on a wall on the spot in his memory. As the graffiti was smeared with black paint after some days by persons unknown, they decided to build a permanent monument there.
Advocate Moinuddin Jalal, one of those taking the initiative and a well-wisher of Ananta, said the monument will act as a signal to the killers that Ananta is not alone; all residents in the area where he lived and grew up are with him, even after his murder.
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