Protests on, Khadiza still fight for life

Protests against the attack on Sylhet college girl by a Bangladesh Chattra League leader continued in Sylhet and elsewhere for the fourth consecutive day on Friday.
The condition of the victim Khadiza Akhter Nargis remained unchanged and she was still on life support, sources at Square Hospitals Limited in Dhaka said.
People from all walks of life in Sylhet and elsewhere in the country took to the streets on Friday protesting against the attack and demanding capital punishment for the attacker Badrul Alam, assistant general secretary of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology unit of the ruling Awami League-backed student body Bangladesh Chhatra League.
The victim’s elder brother Shahin Ahmed told reporters on Friday noon that though her sister’s condition was unchanged, they had been expecting good news from the doctors.
Referring to the doctors, he said that the physicians might keep her under observation for more time and sought blessings of all for early recovery of his sister.
The video of the hacking that went viral on social media show that Badrul was hacking Khadiza indiscriminately in the head and the hands while she fell on the road adjacent to MC College in Sylhet city on October 3.
Badrul, a former private tutor of Khadiza, reportedly confessed to a Sylhet court that he hacked Khadiza in a bid to kill her as she denied his proposal for an affair.
Khadiza, daughter of Mashuk Mia of Ausha village under Sylhet sadar upazila and a second-year bachelor student at Sylhet Government Women’s College, was attacked when she came out of her examination hall at MC College.
Following the attack, the victim was admitted to Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital from where she was taken to Square Hospitals in Dhaka early October 4.
In sylhet, students and teachers of Mayeen Uddin Adarshya Mahila College formed a huge human chain in front of Central Shaheed Minar at Chowhatta in the city at noon demanding capital punishment of Badrul through a speedy trial.
The college acting principal Md Hena Siddiquee, assistant professor Suparna Roy, Partha Sarathi Nag, Salma Khatun and Sheikh Md Mahmudullah, lecturer Azir Uddin, Enamul Haque Chowdhury, Mahbubur Rauf Nayan and Fazle Rabbi Chowdhury, among others, addressed the rally.
Nari Mukti Parishad, a women rights organisation, formed a human chain and held a rally at the same venue in the afternoon.
People of Ausha, village of Khadiza, and the neighbouring villages also staged a demonstration blocking Sylhet-Sunamganj Highway after the Jumma prayers for speedy trial and exemplary punishment of Badrul.
They would form a human chain today at Temukhi of Kumargaon in the city, local resident Abdul Noor said.
Greater Sylhet Law Graduate Association and Sylhet Madani Kafela formed separate human chains at court point on Friday afternoon.
Former permanent representative to the United Nations AKM Abdul Momen, also younger brother of the finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, visited the village home of Khadiza Friday noon.
He enquired about the wellbeing of Khadiza’s mother Manowara Begum and other family members.
In Barisal, district unit of Samajtantrik Chattra Front formed a human chain on Sadar Road in the city Friday morning protesting at the attack and demanding exemplary punishment for the attacker.