She wants to focus on her studies
Forgetting the horror, the rape victim of Dhaka University is now fighting hard to get back to normal life. She wants to concentrate on her studies, take exams and think about her future career.
“She looked strong. She was seen studying on a bed at the one-stop crisis centre on Wednesday. She would take her exams,” a doctor, who was treating her at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), told The Daily Star.
Around noon yesterday, the hospital authorities released the 21-year-old victim, a student of DU.
Speaking to this newspaper, a relative of the victim said she was preparing for her university exams after returning home.
DMCH Director Brig Gen AKM Nasiruddin said the girl was recovering from trauma and she was released from the hospital on the advice of a seven-member medical board.
She was advised to come again next week for a follow-up visit, the hospital chief told reporters.
He said the victim’s father in a letter thanked the prime minister, the home minister, the police, and the DMCH authorities for their prompt action and help in this regard.
The student was raped and tortured in the capital’s Kurmitola area around 7:30pm on Sunday when she was walking from Kurmitola bus stop to a friend’s house in a nearby area.
She was admitted to the hospital later that night.
SUSPECT PUT ON REMAND
Meanwhile, a Dhaka court yesterday placed suspected rapist Majnu on seven-day remand in a case filed by the victim’s father with Cantonment Police Station.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sarafuzzaman Ansary passed the order after Detective Branch Inspector Abu Siddiq, also the investigation officer of the case, produced the arrestee before the court seeking 10-day remand.
No lawyer stood for Majnu at the court.
A panel of 25 lawyers of Bangladesh Ain Samity was providing legal assistance to the victim, said Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Abdullah Abu.
On Wednesday, the Rapid Action Battalion arrested Majnu from the capital’s Shewra area. Later, he was handed over to the DB, which is now probing the case.
The Rab said the victim identified the arrestee as the rapist.
The rape incident sparked a firestorm of protests and condemnations across the country.
Lawyers said if the accused was convicted of committing the crime, he might face a maximum punishment of life sentence.
PROTEST CONTINUES
On Wednesday, 16 students of a DU department submitted blank answer scripts at their semester final examination as part of their protest against the rape.
The third-year students will now have to sit for an improvement exam next year.
“We were aware of this, but we could not sit for the exam at a time when all the students were protesting the rape of our fellow,” one of the examinees told this newspaper yesterday.
She said they did so to extend their support to the ongoing protest and to press for capital punishment of the rapist.
Also yesterday, around 200 students formed a human chain in front of the Raju Memorial Sculpture demanding capital punishment for the accused.
The protesters later staged a sit-in there for about two hours till 2:00pm.
In another demonstration, nearly 50 female students performed a flash mob tilted “The Rapist is You” in the area around 1:30pm.
Another group of students, led by Ducsu member Tanvir Hasan Saikat, burned the effigy of Majnu in the area.
Around 2:30pm, a group of Sociology department students staged a protest rally in the area. They submitted a memorandum to the vice-chancellor with eight-point demands, including bringing the entire campus under CCTV surveillance and providing identity cards to hawkers, rickshaw pullers and tea stall owners in the campus.
Bangladesh Sadharan Chhatra Adhikar Sangrakkhan Parishad held a protest march demanding capital punishment for the rapist.
Speaking at the programme, Ducsu Vice-President Nurul Haque Nur said, “We have to protest against rape and all forms of sexual harassment against women. Had the students not raised their voice against the incident, prompt actions would not have been taken in this regard.”
He demanded the authorities ensure justice for the victims of all the previous incidents of rape and sexual harassment against women in the country.
Our DU correspondent contributed to this report.
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