Slain Comilla college student Sohagi Jahan Tonu’s father is under surveillance, her mother Anwara Begum has alleged.
She said this at a Ganajagaran Mancha rally on Monday held at Comilla town’s Pubali Chattar in protest against the police failure to identify Tonu’s killers or make arrests even three months after the incident.
Explaining the absence of her husband at the gathering, Anwara said: “Don’t you know her (Tonu’s) father is being kept confined? He has been told to speak to no one.”
She said she wanted to know from the government and everyone else why he had been so ordered. “He does not speak against the government. Can’t Tonu’s father seek justice?”
There was no immediate response from the Comilla Cantonment authorities to the allegation. Efforts bybdnews24.com to speak to senior officers went in vain.
Tonu’s father, Yaar Hossain, is an employee of the Comilla Cantonment Board. He lives in quarters within the cantonment.
Tonu, 19, a graduate student of Comilla Victoria Government College, was murdered on the night of Mar 20 after she left home to tutor a student who lived nearby. Her body was found within the cantonment area.
The army had promised all help to police and local the administration in the investigation amidst nationwide outrage over the murder.
The CID are now currently probing the case. It was suspected that Tonu was raped before being killed.
However, Comilla Medical College Hospital doctors in their first autopsy report said they had not found any evidence of rape, and failed to determine the cause of death.
A second post-mortem examination was conducted following intense criticism and the issuance of a court order.
Before the second test report was published, the CID said they had found through DNA tests proof of Tonu’s having been subjected to rape.
The second autopsy report revealed that she had ‘sexual intercourse before death’, but could not confirm whether she was raped.
The cause of death was also not determined, said the forensic experts, as they claimed the examination ‘on the highly decomposed body was conducted 10 days after the murder’.
Tonu’s family has rejected both reports. The CID has also questioned the ambiguous second autopsy report.
On Monday, her mother said, “No one is interested in arresting the killers even after three months. And they have put us under surveillance, noting where we go and what we do.”
“My eldest son now doesn’t even come home from Dhaka due to fear.”
Anwara Begum had earlier alleged that some army personnel were involved in her daughter’s killing.
She told the rally in Comilla, “If I had known they would murder my daughter, I wouldn’t have let her leave. They killed my daughter because I didn’t let her participate in an event of the army.”
On May 10, Tonu’s parents claimed that the murder mystery would be solved if army sergeant Zahid and Sepoy Zahid, posted at Comilla cantonment, were questioned.
Questioning the role of forensic experts who conducted the autopsies, Anwara on Monday also alleged, “The doctors are also helping the killers. If they are not, then why would they submit false reports?”
Source: Bd news24
