Madrasa boy dies by suicide

A 14-year-old madrasa student who police believed was a victim of sexual assault died by suicide at his home in Dhaka's Kamrangirchar.

Police recovered the boy's body around 10:00pm on Monday and sent it to Dhaka Medical College morgue for an autopsy.

There were signs on the body that indicated that the boy was sexually assaulted, Md Ashraful Haque, sub-inspector of Kamrangirchar Police Station, mentioned in the inquest report.

He died by hanging himself from the ceiling fan in his room, likely because he was unable to tell anyone about his situation, the report read.

In order to determine the actual cause of his death, an autopsy must be performed, the report added.

Mostafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Kamrangirchar Police Station, told The Daily Star yesterday an unnatural death case was filed over the incident.

"We believe we found signs of sexual harassment after recovering the boy's body. We are now waiting for the doctor's opinion before starting the investigation," he added.

The boy was a student of Aligar's Jamia Nurania Islamia Hafizia Madrasa.

According to his elder brother, the boy seemed fine when he returned from the madrasa on Friday night.

"On Monday afternoon, when my father asked my brother about going to the madrasa, he said he would go the next day.

"Around 10:00pm, he locked the door to his room. We called him for a long time but he did not answer. Later, we broke down his door and found him hanging from the ceiling fan," said the brother.

When asked about the sexual harassment, he said he first learned about it from the police.

"My brother told us that the madrasa teachers used to beat him and forbade him from telling anyone about the beatings."