Schoolgirl found dead in Agargaon slum

She was supposed to go to school like others days, but family members found the hanging body of Sumaiya Akhtar, a fifth grader, in a room of their slum at city's Agargaon yesterday morning.

Sumaiya, 12, a resident of city's Agargaon BNP Bazar Bosti, asked for Tk 50 from her father for tiffin before going to school. But her father reacted angrily to her demand and left home.

After returning home at 10:30 am, Mohammad Sultan, father of Sumaiya, heard that her daughter did not go to school. He found her body hanging from roof of a room next door, where her aunt lives.

“I could not even give her Tk 50 as I do not have any income. If I gave her the money, my daughter would still be alive,” said a distraught Sultan, a patient of tuberculosis who cannot work. The family survives on the income of her wife Shahinoor Begum.

He said he has been living in the slum since his birth around 37 years back.

“All of my dreams are gone with her, as she was the only one among my three children who was continuing her studies.”

Some neighbours, however raised questions about the suicide, terming the reason of the suicide “unusual”.

Officer-in-Charge of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station, GG Biswas, said they heard the news of the suicide, and sent the body to Shaheed Suhrawardi Medical College Morgue for autopsy.