OUTRAGE all around

With Khadiza still battling for her life, the harrowing footage of the attack on her by a Sylhet Chhatra League man continued to outrage people yesterday.

Apart from joining street protests, many took to Facebook and other social media platforms to air their anger at the brutality of her attacker and to demand justice for her.

Meanwhile, Badrul Alam, senior assistant secretary of the BCL unit at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (Sust), has confessed to hacking Khadiza Begum Nargis with an intention to kill her.

He gave his confessional statement before the court of Sylhet Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Umme Saraban Tahura yesterday afternoon, police said.

Shell-shocked, Khadiza's mother Monowara Begum still could not believe how someone could do this to her daughter.

“I saw the video where Badrul is seen hacking my daughter. This cannot be an act of a human,” she said.

“She had not had her lunch properly because of her exam. She had promised me to return and complete her meal later on. Please, bring back my daughter.”

Badrul's attack on her daughter surprised her. “He [Badrul] used to live in our house. I treated him like my son until he started harassing Khadiza. So, we asked him to leave.”

A student of Sylhet Government Women's College, Khadiza, 23, was hacked indiscriminately by Badrul with a machete on the campus of MC College in Sylhet on Monday. She had gone there to take part in an exam.

A part of the attack was filmed presumably by a bystander with a mobile phone. The clip went viral.

In the clip, a youth is seen repeatedly hacking a girl lying on the ground. There were some bystanders, but no one seemed to have gone to her rescue.

However, some students along with locals caught and beat up the attacker -- Badrul. He was later handed over to police.

Critically injured, Khadiza was first treated at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital. The next morning, she was shifted to the capital's Square Hospitals where she had a neurosurgery.

There, doctors said her chances of survival were slim and they would observe her for the next 72 hours.

They said she received blows on her head with a sharp weapon and it went beyond the skull multiple times injuring the brain.

Khadiza's uncle Abdul Kuddus, meanwhile, said her condition remained unchanged yesterday, and she was still on life support.

Neurosurgeon Rejaus Sattar, who had performed the surgery, said doctors would be able to comment on her recovery tomorrow afternoon.

State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroz Chumki, several MPs and National Human Rights Commission Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque visited the victim at the hospital yesterday.

Later, Chumki said, "It is important to help rescue a victim instead of taking video of an attack."

Talking to reporters, the NHRC boss urged law enforcement agencies to press charges against the attacker as soon as possible.

“He is a murderer and his political affiliation and ideologies do not matter,” he said, adding that the state must ensure his exemplary punishment.

In Sylhet, Khadiza's teachers, classmates, and locals brought out a procession and formed a human chain, demanding punishment to her attacker.

Holding placards, the teachers and the students brought out a procession from the college around 10:00am. Before ending in front of the college, the procession marched through the city.

Later, the protesters blocked the Chowhatta-Zindabazar Road for half an hour.

"The man who tried to kill her is a beast and should be given exemplary punishment. He did this simply because Khadiza declined to have a relationship with him,” said Fazilatunnesa, a friend of the victim.

Mohammad Nurul Islam, principal of the college, said the brutal attack on the girl has shocked the entire nation.

 Around 12 noon, locals formed a human chain in Tukerbazar area, demanding capital punishment for the attacker. Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, former mayor of Sylhet, and many local government representatives were present there.

ATTACKER'S CONFESSION

Talking to reporters on the court premises, Additional Deputy Commissioner Jedan Al Musa of Sylhet Metropolitan Police said Badrul admitted his crime.

“We look to press charges [against him] in 15 days,” he said.

In his confessional statement, court sources said, Badrul claimed he and the victim were having a relationship for long. However, Khadiza, on being asked by her parents, had been pushing for a break-up for the last eight to 10 months, leaving him furious.

On the day of the incident, Badrul stopped Khadiza on the MC College campus, and asked her to continue the relationship. Enraged by her refusal, he went to a shop nearby and bought a machete with which he attacked her later, said the sources.

Badrul also said he did it all in cold blood, added the sources.

He was taken to Sylhet Kotwali Police Station around noon yesterday and later produced before the court.

Badrul was a fourth-year second semester student of economics at Sust. The university has already suspended him.

The BCL leader, who is second among his five siblings, is from Monirgati village of Sunamganj's Chhatak upazila.

According to locals, he belongs to a very poor family. Some six years ago, he used to live in Khadiza's house where he gave her tuitions.

According to Sust sources, Badrul had become irregular after he started teaching at Alhaj Ayazur Rahman High School in Sunamganj.

Several activists of the Sust BCL said he is the senior assistant secretary of the unit. However, the pro-ruling party organisation, in a statement, has said Badrul has nothing to do with the organisation.

KHADIZA, NO ORDINARY VILLAGE GIRL

Khadiza has been an inspiration for the girls in her neighbourhood, said her cousins.

In her village where most of the girls are married off early, she was dreaming of becoming a banker. She would always inspire others, especially girls, to continue their studies and change their fate.

“We always looked up to her as she used to help us with our studies,” said Nur Ahmed, one of her college-going cousins.

Khadiza lives in a joint family in Hausha village of Sylhet Sadar. She has two brothers and eight cousins.

Her father, Mashuk Miah, has been working in Saudi Arabia for 20 years. He was facing trouble in getting a ticket to home, said Khadiza's uncle Kuddus Miah.