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Efforts on to find treatment

Admin — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 05:28:14 +0000

DU offers legal aid to tortured teacher Rumana
With no treatment available in Bangladesh and India to restore Rumana Manzur’s eyesight, her family is now approaching eye specialists in developed countries hoping to find some treatment for her eyes there.
“We are contacting hospitals and eye specialists abroad. They might do something in a complicated situation like this,” said Rumana’s cousin Rashed Maqsood.
He said they have already sent the diagnostic reports of Rumana’s eyes to the USA, Singapore, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands.
“We are trying to explore if any doctor in the world can treat the eyes that do not respond to light,” he said.
Rumana, an assistant professor of International Relations at Dhaka University and a postgraduate student at the University of British Columbia in Canada, sustained severe injuries as her husband Hasan Sayeed Sumon pushed his fingers into her eyes on June 5. He also gnawed her nose, cheek and throat.
Doctors in Bangladesh and India said her left eye has been completely damaged and the other one is not responding to light.
She is now taking treatment at capital’s LabAid Hospital where doctors are trying to protect her eyes from infection.
Quoting doctors, her father Manzur Hossain said a plastic surgery will be needed to bring her nose back to shape.
Meanwhile, Stephen Toope, president of the University of British Columbia (UBC), said a number of fundraising efforts for Rumana are underway.
“UBC is also working to prepare options for Ms Manzur to complete her master’s degree in political science,” Toope said in a letter. “While this cannot, of course, be Rumana’s immediate priority, we want her to know that everyone at UBC is thinking of her and of her future,” reports CBC news in Canada.
Dhaka University authorities have agreed to provide legal assistance for Rumana. She will also continue to hold her post at the university.
DU Vice-chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique gave the assurance following a request from her family, said Prof Delwar Hossain, chairman of the International Relations Department.
SUMON REMANDED AGAIN
Hasan Sayeed Sumon was yesterday remanded for another day in a case filed for torturing his wife.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Utpal Chowdhury passed the remand order after police produced Sumon before his court with a 10-day remand prayer.
Since his arrest on June 15, he has been interrogated during remand for five days in three phases.
CALL FOR JUSTICE
Academics, human rights activists, women rights activists, media personalities and students demanded exemplary punishment to Sumon.
They made the call from a protest rally organised by a platform formed to press for justice for Rumana on Shaheed Minar premises yesterday.

-With The Daily Star input

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She sees daughter touching, talking

Admin — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 05:04:26 +0000

She was too tired to be visited by anyone else; she has had enough of visitors in her hospital cabin since morning. But she could not hold back her excitement sensing the presence of her daughter around her bed.
“Have you come, ma?” She stretched her arms to touch her child. “Where are you?”
Rumana Manzur moved her hands from side to side. She wished she could see. But not anymore. Rumana has gone blind in a brutal assault by her husband Hasan Sayeed Sumon, who pushed his fingers into her eyes on June 5.
An assistant professor of the International Relations Department at Dhaka University and a postgraduate student at the University of British Columbia in Canada, she is now being treated at LabAid Hospital in the capital.
Ophthalmologists in Bangladesh and India confirmed that her left eye has been completely damaged while the retina of the other one is not responding to her brain.
Rumana is blind now. All right. But the mother in her is not. She may be tired of this world. All right. But the mother in her is not.
“Which dress did you wear, ma? Are you happy to see me again?” she asked her five-year-old daughter Anusheh as she got closer.
Without waiting for an answer, she then felt Anusheh’s dress to figure it out for herself. “Oh! You put on a short skirt,” she said and kissed Anusheh. Anusheh kissed back.
Rumana’s mother stepped in to satisfy Rumana’s curiosity and said her daughter was wearing a skirt over a blue jeans and a black top.
“Will you stay with me for long today?” Rumana asked. The daughter said she would.
Just half and hour before the meeting of the mother and the daughter, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury visited Rumana around 1:45pm yesterday.
“Please pray for me so that I can see my daughter again,” she told the minister holding her hands.
“He [Sumon] has not let me see my daughter for a long time.”
She told Matia how she returned from Canada on May 12 just to see her daughter after nine months.
“I want everyone’s blessings so that I can see again, and bring up my daughter properly.”

-With The Daily Star input

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All she wants is punishment

Admin — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 04:38:04 +0000

Rumana weeps, tells how she forgave husband upon numerous tortures
After doctors in Bangladesh and India have failed to restore Rumana Manzur’s eyesight, the Dhaka University teacher now has just one option open: waiting for a miracle.
“I don’t know what will happen with my eyes. Now everything depends on Allah,” a crying Rumana said yesterday.
She was talking to journalists at capital’s LabAid Hospital, where she was readmitted on Monday after her return from India. She demanded punishment of her assaulter husband Hasan Sayeed Sumon.
An assistant professor of International Relations Department at DU, Rumana sustained severe injuries as Sumon pushed his fingers into her eyes at their Dhanmondi residence in the city on June 5.
After initial treatment at LabAid, she was taken to Sankara Nethralaya, an eye hospital in Chennai in India, on June 14. Later she was shifted to Arvind Eye Centre in Pondicherry.
Ophthalmologists there confirmed that her left eye has gone blind permanently while the retina of the other one is not responding to her brain.
“Only some miracles can bring back the vision of my daughter,” her father Manzur Hossain said quoting Indian doctors.
Recalling the torture by her husband, Rumana broke down into tears.
“He assaulted me before my five-year-old daughter and left the room leaving me in a pool of blood.
“My daughter was crying. I could not see anything at that moment. My head was hit against some furniture when I tried to get out of the room with my daughter,” she said.
Also a postgraduate student at the University of British Columbia in Canada, she said Sumon started torturing her within days after their marriage. But she forgave him time and again thinking of their only daughter, Anusheh.
“Please, press for his punishment.”
Asked about the allegation of a romantic relation with an Iranian man during her stay in Canada, she said: “Please don’t believe such fabricated allegation. Ask those I stayed with in Dhaka and Canada. Nobody can make such allegation.”
Earlier, her friends at the university in Canada and the Bangladeshi community there said the accusation of infidelity is “nonsense,” and is an attempt to damage her reputation.
Rumana’s lawyer Elina Khan, who was present at the press briefing, fears that one of Sumon’s lawyer uncles might influence the case against Sumon.
Police arrested him on June 15.
A Dhaka court yesterday placed him on a two-day fresh remand in a case filed for an attempt to murder Rumana. He was earlier remanded for three days in two phases.
Bahauddin Faruki, sub-inspector of Detective Branch, in his remand prayer said Sumon needs to be quizzed before Rumana.
Also yesterday, 45 academics, writers, lawyers, human rights activists and media personalities in a statement expressed concern that Rumana is being subjected to character assassination by a section of the media and some individuals on social media.
They condemned any attempt to justify the cruel attack on Rumana.
Meanwhile, DU teachers of international relations department in a press release demanded shifting of the case against Sumon to a Speedy Trial Tribunal.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid and State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury visited Rumana at LabAid.
Nahid ensured the family members that her assaulter will be brought to justice.

-With The Daily Star input

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Rumana returns, sees nothing

Admin — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:38:39 +0000

“He has made my world dark. I can’t see my daughter.”
This was Dhaka University teacher Rumana Manzur lamenting before the media on her return from India yesterday after doctors expressed little hope of her getting back the eyesight.
“I came home [from Canada] after nine months to see my daughter. But I could not see her for long,” she told journalists at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Her flight landed around 3:40pm.
Wearing dark sunglasses, she was sitting in a wheelchair with her five-year-old daughter Anusheh on her lap.
Rumana, an assistant professor of International Relations Department at Dhaka University, suffered severe injuries in her eyes as her husband Hasan Sayeed Sumon pushed his fingers into her eyes at their Dhanmondi residence in the city on June 5.
After initial treatment at capital’s LabAid Hospital, she was taken to Sankara Nethralaya, an eye hospital in Chennai in India, on June 14. Later she was shifted to Arvind Eye Centre in Pondicherry for a second opinion on her condition.
Ophthalmologists there confirmed that her left eye has gone blind permanently while the retina of the other one is not responding to her brain.
“My daughter is too young. My parents are sick and now he has done this to me. I feel threatened, insecure…. Brother, press for his trial,” she told reporters.
From the airport she was straightway taken to LabAid for continuation of treatment.
Doctors and family members will brief reporters about her condition at the hospital around 11:00am today.
The family brought her back, as doctors said no treatment for her eyes was available at the moment.
The eye specialists in Sankara Nethralaya, however, recommended taking Rumana to the hospital after two months.
“We’re considering taking her to India after two months,” said a cousin.
Tanzim Uddin Khan, a DU teacher of international relations department, said they will hold an emergency meeting today to chalk out protest programmes against the torture on Rumana, who is also a postgraduate student of the University of British Columbia in Canada.
Her father Manzur Hossain who was present at the airport demanded exemplary punishment of Sumon.
Following his arrest on June 15, Sumon on police remand confessed to torturing Rumana.

-With The Daily Star input

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It’s untrue, nonsense

Admin — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:34:34 +0000

Rumana’s friends, acquaintances in Canada trash assaulter husband’s allegation against her
The accusation of infidelity made by Rumana Manzur’s husband is “nonsense,” and is an attempt to damage her reputation, her friends at her university in Canada and the Bangladeshi community there have said.
“I was shocked to learn that the untrue claims were made to try and divert attention away from the perpetrator of such a horrendous crime. It is my full hope that justice is served and that Rumana’s widespread support is fully heard,” said Loni Slade, a PhD student from Canada, among 22 other resident students from the University of British Columbia.
She was a family-oriented, pious and brilliant academic, and a loving wife and mother, Loni said in a written statement addressed to The Daily Star and other national dailies yesterday.
“The Rumana I know cares about the important people in her life and about her success in scholarship and friendship.”
Rumana, the Dhaka University teacher who lost eyesight following torture by her husband, will return home from India today after doctors there expressed little hope of her getting back the vision.
She is scheduled to arrive at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 3:00pm, her cousin Rashed Maqsood said.
An assistant professor at the International Relations Department of DU and a postgraduate student of University of British Columbia in Canada, Rumana will be received by DU teachers and students at the airport.
Her eyes were critically damaged after her husband Hasan Sayeed Sumon pushed his fingers into her eyes on June 5.
She was flown to India on June 14 for better treatment and was admitted to Sankara Nethralaya, an eye hospital in Chennai. Later she was taken to Arvind Eye Centre in Pondicherry for a second opinion on her condition.
Indian ophthalmologists confirmed that her left eye has gone blind permanently while the retina of the other one is not responding to her brain.
Following his arrest on June 15, Sumon alleged that Rumana was involved in an extra-marital affair with an Iranian national during her stay in Canada.
However, her friends and acquaintances in Canada dubbed the accusations as baseless and a blatant lie.
“We are simply speechless, appalled and deeply hurt in the incident of the false accusation of Rumana’s extramarital affair,” read another letter addressed to the media by Shahin Aktar and Saif Islam, residents in Vancouver, Canada on behalf of the local Bangladeshi families.
The letter said the Bangladeshi community in Vancouver is really small and it would be impossible for anyone to have an extramarital affair unnoticed.
Rumana had to struggle a lot to return home and write her thesis from Bangladesh. It was a big risk to do the thesis being away from the supervisor, as she would have to return to defend her thesis, the letter read.
“Still, she opted to do so just to be with her daughter and husband,” it added.
Isabel Andrade from Ecuador wrote: “I would like to clearly state that I think these allegations are baseless. She conducted herself responsibly throughout her stay at the college and was well respected by many people.”
“Whenever I went by her room, she was praying, phoning her family or studying,” said Bieke Johanna Magdalene Primavera Gils from Belgium.
“I strongly condemn such heinous acts of violence against any person and in particular my friend and neighbour, Rumana,” said Pearl Siganporia, another PhD student from Qatar.
Meanwhile, Sumon was placed on a one-day fresh remand yesterday for further interrogation.

-With The Daily Star input

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No ray of light

Admin — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 04:21:54 +0000

Rumana likely to return home tomorrow as doctors in India find no cure for her eyes
Dhaka University Assistant Professor Rumana Manzur is expected to return from India tomorrow as doctors there have said there is little chance for her to get back eyesight, family sources said.
A medical board in Sankara Nethralaya, an eye hospital in Chennai where she was undergoing treatment, yesterday said no cure was available right now for the eyes badly damaged by her husband.
The board, however, recommended taking Rumana to the hospital again after two months, said a cousin of the victim.
Another report of ophthalmologists at Arvind Eye Centre in Pondicherry, to where Rumana was taken for a second opinion, has echoed views of Sankara doctors, the cousin told The Daily Star yesterday, preferring anonymity.
Rumana, a teacher of DU international relations department and a postgraduate student of University of British Columbia, was taken to India on June 14.
She received severe injuries as her husband Hasan Sayeed Sumon pushed his fingers into her eyes and gnawed her nose and throat at her father’s Dhanmondi residence in the capital on June 5.
Earlier, ophthalmologists in India confirmed that Rumana’s left eye had gone permanently sightless while retina of the other one was not responding to brain.
Meanwhile, Rumana’s husband Hasan Sayeed Sumon on remand confessed that he had attacked her eyes as she insulted him for his poor eyesight, said Monirul Islam, deputy commissioner of Detective Branch (South).
Arrested on June 15, Sumon also confessed to police that he was jealous of his wife’s success and he had made another attempt to kill her on May 21.
Police will place Sumon before a Dhaka court today seeking fresh remand.
Eye specialist Niaz Rahman, who provided treatment to Rumana immediately after her admission to LabAid Hospital in the capital, said “It seemed Rumana’s left eye is incurable.”
“There is little hope for the right eye as it also got severe injuries,” the ophthalmologist told The Daily Star.
Bangladeshi communities in Vancouver and University of British Columbia in Canada in messages have expressed grave concern over the brutal attack on Rumana.

-With The Daily Star input

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Hope against hope for Rumana’s eyes

Admin — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 03:27:08 +0000

Doctors in India to give report today; assaulter Sumon confesses ‘bid to kill her’
Rumana Manzur, the Dhaka University teacher who was brutally assaulted by her husband, is coming back home as doctors in India could not give much hope about her eyes, said family sources.
The doctors are expected to give the official report today and until then the family cannot confirm whether Rumana has permanently lost her vision.
“We are preparing to take her home as the doctors have already said that we can try further if we want. We will decide about that at home,” said Rumana’s cousin preferring not to be named.
He said The University of British Columbia, where Rumana was studying on commonwealth scholarship, has expressed will to contribute to her better treatment, said Rumana’s cousin, adding that they took Rumana to Arvind Eye Centre in Pondicherry for a second opinion of Indian doctors on her eyes.
Rumana was taken to Sankara Netralaya in Chennai for better treatment on June 14.
Meanwhile, Rumana’s assaulter husband Hasan Sayeed Sumon yesterday confessed to trying to strangle her in a planned way.
“Sumon admitted that he planned to kill his wife, but he did not say clearly how, when and why he wanted to do that,” said Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Detective Branch (DB South) Monirul Islam, who was grilling Sumon on remand.
A Dhaka court on Thursday placed Sumon on a two-day remand in an attempt-to-murder case.
Quoting Sumon, the DC said Rumana was working with a computer in her father’s room on June 5. Her daughter Anusha was there with her. All on a sudden Sumon entered the room and locked the door from inside. He then swooped on Rumana and pushed his fingers in her eyes and dragged her by hair on the floor.
Seeing this, the daughter screamed out for help. Their domestic helps Shamsunnahar and Latifa came rushing and found the room locked from inside. They banged on the door several times and unable to break through they went for duplicate keys.
Seeing Sumon trying to strangle his wife, the domestic helps forced him away from Rumana, the DC said, adding, “Had the help come late, Rumana would have been dead.”
Sumon escaped right after the incident.
The DB official said they would talk to the victim, her daughter and the domestic helps to get a clear picture of the incident.

-With The Daily Star input

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One eye blinded, other in danger

Admin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:20:01 +0000

Reports Indian medical board after checking Rumana; torturer husband remanded
The retina of one eye of Rumana Manzur, who was brutally assaulted by her husband, is not responding to her brain, and she has gone permanently blind in the other eye, said her family sources quoting a medical report.
A medical board formed for Rumana in Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai of India, where she is undergoing treatment, met Wednesday night and later disclosed the information, the family sources said yesterday.
Meanwhile, a Dhaka court yesterday placed the assaulter husband Hasan Sayeed Sumon, on a two-day remand in an attempt to murder case filed against him.
Metropolitan Magistrate Shahriar Mahmud Adnan passed the order after the Detective Branch (DB) of Police produced him before the court with a 10-day remand prayer.
The court rejected the bail petition submitted by the defence counsel.
Investigation Officer (IO) of the case Sub-inspector of DB Bahauddin Faruki in his remand prayer said Sumon needs to be remanded because his interrogation is required to find out the reasons behind Rumana’s torture.
In the bail petition along with a prayer for cancelling the remand, defence lawyer Advocate Manoarul Islam said Sumon did not attack Rumana premeditatedly.
Sumon got upset when he found some SMS from an Iranian national in her cellphone, when he confronted Rumana, they got into a scuffle, during which Rumana got injured, the defence lawyer claimed.
The court should allow Sumon’s bail prayer and cancel the IO’s remand prayer, argued Manoarul.
Rumana, an assistant professor of international relations at Dhaka University (DU) was brutally attacked by her husband Sumon on June 5. The husband allegedly pushed his fingers into Rumana’s eyes, and then dragged her by the hair and threw her on the floor in Rumana’s parents’ house in the capital.
She went to India on Tuesday for better treatment, after being hospitalised in Dhaka for more than a week.
Meanwhile, three police officers concerned appeared before the High Court (HC) yesterday in connection with the case as per the court’s order.
The police officers are Assistant Commissioner (Dhamnodi Zone) Sharifur Rahman, Officer-in-charge of Dhanmondi Police Station Md Moniruzzaman, and investigation officer of the case Sub-inspector Mokbul Hossain.
As Sumon was not being arrested even after 10 days of the assault, the High Court on Wednesday summoned the police officers to appear before it yesterday for explaining why they had not been able to arrest the accused.
Just two hours into the issuance of the HC order, police arrested Sumon.
Yesterday the officers informed the court that they had already arrested the accused.
The HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore directed the police officers to submit a progress report of the investigation in a month.
Meanwhile, a group of Dhaka University students in a media briefing yesterday demanded exemplary punishment for Sumon under the Speedy Trial Act.
The students under the banner of — Students and Teachers Against Repression — also demanded strong security for Rumana as well as for her family members, and urged the university administration to bear her treatment cost.
Deputy Commissioner of Detective Branch (DB South) Monirul Islam told reporters yesterday that Sumon, during primary interrogation, admitted to assaulting Rumana.
But the accused did not disclose the reason behind the attack, said Monirul.
He also claimed they have information that Sumon had tried to kill Rumana earlier.
In an email sent to a professor of the international relations department of DU, President of the University of British Columbia Stephen J Toope expressed his sympathy and support for Rumana, a master’s student at the Canadian university.

-With The Daily Star input

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Torturer Sumon caught

Admin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:34:22 +0000

Claims wife Rumana cheated on him; her friend says doctors in India found grievous injuries to cornea, retinae of both eyes
Police yesterday arrested Hasan Sayeed Sumon, who tortured and damaged the eyes of his wife Rumana Manzur, an assistant professor of Dhaka University, 10 days ago.
Sumon was arrested at his relative’s house in the capital’s Mugda area around 2:10pm, soon after he came back to Dhaka from his hideout in Chittagong, said Md Monirul Islam, deputy commissioner of Detective Branch (DB South), at a press briefing in DB headquarters on Minto Road.
Just two hours before the arrest, the High Court had summoned police officers concerned to explain their failure in catching Sumon.
In the press briefing at DB headquarters, Sumon denied the allegation of torturing his wife.
He alleged that Rumana got involved in an extra marital affair with Iranian national Navid Taher Dween during her stay in Canada on Commonwealth Scholarship at British Colombia University. Rumana swooped on him when he deleted her paramour from her Facebook friend list, he claimed, adding that he was just trying to protect himself.
“I am almost 80 percent visually impaired. When she attacked me my glasses fell down and I couldn’t see anything. I don’t know what happened later,” Sumon claimed.
Replying to journalists, Sumon said, “I took care of our daughter when she was in Canada. I did not have the slightest idea that she had been cheating on me all this time.”
He also placed an example of Rumana’s cheating saying, “A few days after her return from Canada, we decided to commit suicide together and managed 192 sedatives for the purpose. While I took 110 tablets and landed in LabAid Hospital in a critical condition, she kept from living up to the plan.”
At a city hospital a couple of days ago, Rumana told the media that her husband pushed his fingers into her eyes and then dragged her by hair on the floor. She also claimed that he gnawed on her nose, face and throat during the June 5 incident at her parents’ house in Dhanmondi where they had been living for six years, since Rumana conceived her only daughter.
A case was filed against Sumon with Dhanmondi Police Station on June 6.
Rumana also alleged that her husband used to frequently assault her during their 10-year conjugal life. He beat her up several times on her return from Canada on May 12.
Sumon got furious when Rumana decided to continue her study in Canada, said Rumana on Monday, adding, “But I tolerated everything considering the future of my daughter.”
On Tuesday, Rumana was sent to Sankara Nethralaya, a medical research foundation in Chennai, India.
Ruman’s relatives and colleagues, who went to India with her, told The Daily Star last night that doctors found grievous injuries and irrevocable damages to both her eyes’ cornea and retinae.
Different human rights bodies, including the National Human Rights Commission, and Dhaka University teachers expressed their concern over the brutality on the DU teacher.
National Human Rights Commission in a statement yesterday said people accused in such incidents should be given exemplary punishment according to law.
In protest of the attack on Rumana Manzur, a solidarity meeting was held at Dhaka University (DU) with participation of students and teachers of different universities, cultural organisations, human rights activists and different left leaning students’ organisations.

-With The Daily Star input

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