Left daughter, father injured
An exasperated stalker went wild and attacked the girl and her father with a sharp weapon in Barguna.
Her father Yunus Howlader was escorting Shormi Akhter Suma, 18, a higher secondary student of Ghatbaria Adarsha College in Barguna, to college Saturday morning when stalker Mohsin Shikder, 29, attacked them.
Critically injured Suma is now being treated at Trauma Centre in the capital.
Jhalakathi Detective Branch of Police arrested Mohsin at Jhalakathi launch terminal last night.
Suma told The Daily Star that Mohsin stalked her on her way to and from college. She had to stop going to college for six months for the sleazy comments he hurls at her.
A general diary in connection with the stalking was filed with Barguna Police Station on November 7.
She said to take the HSC test exam at college she had to go and her father escorted her.
On their way to college, Mohsin stopped them and hurled expletives at her father; he told him that he would cripple his daughter.
Mohsin then brandished a sharp weapon and gave her a blow on the right arm. When her father tried to save her, Mohsin hit him on the head using the blunt side of the weapon.
Suma ran for safety jumping into a canal and when she reached the other side of the canal Mohsin caught up with her and slashed her in the ankle.
A large chunk of her calf muscle was severed.
Her injured father tried to save her but could not. Locals rescued her and sent her to hospital.
Suma was first taken to Barguna Hospital and was later moved to Barisal Medical College Hospital where she was operated on. She was shifted to the Trauma Centre on Mirpur Road in Shyamoli, Dhaka, yesterday.
Doctors at the Trauma Centre on condition of anonymity said Suma needs plastic surgery on her right arm. They said they are hoping that her leg could be saved since the surgery in Barisal was successful.
Suma’s mother Aklima Begum told The Daily Star that Mohsin over the telephone had been threatening to kidnap Suma. They had even asked the principal of the college to issue her a transfer certificate so that they could move her to a different college. But the principal insisted on her doing the exams.
Meanwhile, a police official was closed, an investigation committee was formed and different organisation observed protest programmes Sunday in Barguna demanding exemplary punishment of the stalker and financial help to the victims.
Babul Akhter, officer-in-charge of Barguna Police Station, said Suma’s father Yunus Howlader lodged a case against Mohsin and his two cohorts Sohrab and Al-Amin, who helped Mohsin to track her daughter’s whereabouts.
The GD filed on November 7 was not properly investigated. Mahbub Hakim, Barguna superintendent of police, said Sub-Inspector Mainul Hossain was closed in connection with negligence in investigating the GD and arresting the accused.
The SP said a five-member probe committee headed by Zakir Hossain Majumdar, additional police superintendent, was formed to investigate the incident. He said they sought help from the detective branch of police.
Md Mojibur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Barguna, said Tk 20,000 from police welfare fund, Tk 5,000 from his own fund and Tk 3,500 collected by the Barguna Press Club and Nazrul Smriti Sangsad have already been handed over to the victim’s family.
Barguna Press Club organised a human chain and a rally, with the participation of students, teachers, members of family, NGO activists, different professionals, socio-cultural organisations, in front of Barguna DC office yesterday morning to protest the incident.
