BCL man's terror pushes girl to breaking point

A teenage girl, a student of Govt LBK Degree College in Dacope upazila, has committed suicide in her dormitory room after Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) president of Bajua SN College allegedly took her to an undisclosed location by force the day before. 

Joyee Mondal, 18, from Uttar Banishanta village, was a second-year intermediate student at the women's college. She secured GPA-5 in SSC.

Around 9:00am on the morning of November 6, resident students of the dormitory found Joyee's room locked from inside. As she did not respond to their knocking on the door, they looked through the window and saw her hanging from the ceiling.

Being informed, the college principal reported the incident to the police who later recovered her body and sent it to Khulna Medical College Hospital for an autopsy.

Joyee's fellow students said the day before her body was found, in the afternoon on November 5, they saw her being forcibly taken away from outside of a teacher's house where they all went to take private coaching lessons.  

They also said the BCL president of SN (Surendranath) College, Inzamamul Hoq Mirza, who had long been stalking her on way to and from the tutor's house, came in front of the tutor's house along with several of his associates while Joyee and other students were inside.

He asked Joyee to come out of the house for a talk. Joyee came out and had a heated argument with Mirza. At one stage, she slapped him in the face, asking not to harass her any more.

Mirza then started to beat her up and he, with the help of his cohorts, dragged her out of the area to an unknown location.

Later in the evening, Joyee came back to her hostel room after collecting her book bag from the tutor's house, said one of her classmates, also a resident at the dormitory.

Mirza and his gang had been harassing her ever since she enrolled at the college. They used to torment her on the way to and from the tutor's house, she also said.

Another student at the dormitory said, “We have been feeling extremely insecure... Two students already left the dorm after the incident and many others are considering the same.”

Mirza is son of Nazrul Islam from Bajua village in the same upazila.

Kumaresh Mondal, Joyee's father, said his daughter wanted to be a police officer. He had to send her to the residential college in Dacope as there is no college near their home.

Joyee never told them about Mirza's stalking and harassments because she thought they might become frightened and bring her home, said Debanjon Mondal, elder brother of Joyee.

Speaking with The Daily Star, Shyamol Kumar Roy, principal of SN College, said Mirza became arrogant and spiralled out of control after he became president of the college BCL.

“There have been more than twenty written and verbal complaints against him and his accomplices.” The complaints include harassing women verbally and physically, misbehaving with teachers and being involved in brawls and clashes, he said.

“He didn't even obey us.” Although the teachers reprimanded Mirza several times, they did not dare to take any disciplinary action against him due to his political identity, the principal also said.

Local Awami League leader and Dacope upazila Vice Chairman Gourpada Bacher said he also received many complaints against Mirza and warned him verbally on various occasions, but “failed to bring him on the right track”.

Principal Kumaresh Chandra Mondal of Govt LBK Degree College demanded exemplary punishment for the persons behind a promising student's death. “How would the girls continue their studies if we can't ensure a secure environment for them?”

Teachers, students and various social organisations staged demonstrations and formed human chains at the upazila headquarters demanding justice.

Shabuddin Choudhury, officer in charge of Dacope Police Station, told The Daily Star that a suicide provocation case has been filed against Mirza and they were trying to arrest the accused.