Student kills himself at college dorm

A resident student of Cambrian School and College committed suicide following alleged physical and mental torture by the hostel super and his deputy in the capital's Bhatara area yesterday.

The deceased was identified as Jahidul Islam Raihan, a first year science group student of Jamalpur Tower Branch of the college. He stayed in a six storey hostel of the college with around 70 other students.

On information, police recovered Raihan's body from the room next to his own, where he was found hanging from the ceiling fan with a bed sheet. Residents of the room were on leave, police and college sources said.

Police picked up hostel super Omar Faruque and his deputy Ashraful Islam for interrogation.

Police primarily consider it a suicide but they are investigating whether any physical and mental torture provoked him to kill himself, said Sarwar Hossain, officer-in-charge of Bhatara Police Station.

Students of the hostel alleged that assistant hostel super Ashraful caught Raihan smoking while he along with his two friends was entering the hostel around 9:00pm on Thursday. When Ashraful found a cigarette wrapped in a paper after searching his backpack, he called up Omar.

Rushing there immediately, Omar assaulted Raihan physically. He then threatened Raihan with a forced transfer certificate, and warned his guardians of stern action from the institute over the phone, alleged students who witnessed the incident.

Omar's threat worried Raihan so much that he stayed up till 2:00am in the morning. He was seen roaming near his room around 7:00am yesterday, said a student who had tried to console him earlier. 

The deceased's cousin Tareq Iqbal said Raihan might have killed himself following the threat and humiliation in front of other students.

"We will file a case against the duo and the college authorities for provoking him to commit suicide," he said.

Omar and Ashraful however denied the allegation.

Contacted, Golam Mostafa, acting principal of the college said that all college staff and teachers were instructed not to harass students physically and mentally.

"If any of them violated the instruction, legal action would be taken against them," he added.

Raihan, a son of a lower middle class family in Cox's Bazar, obtained GPA-5 in both Junior School Certificate and Secondary School Certificate exams.

His father Shakher Ullah, a fish trader, enrolled him in this reputed college with a contract of Tk 2.2 lakh for two years with the hope that he'd become a computer engineer, Shaker was quoted by Tareq as saying.