Online Desk: A month has passed, but the Jagannath University committee put together to probe the suicide of law department student Fairuz Sadaf Abontika has yet to submit its report.

The coordinator of the committee and president of the university’s teacher association, Prof Zakir Hossain says the report has been delayed as police have yet to fulfil some of their requests for information.

On Mar 15, the Fire Service recovered Abontika’s hanged body from a fan at a home in Cumilla’s Bagichagaon. Before taking her life, Abontika posted on Facebook, blaming JNU Assistant Proctor Din Islam and her classmate Amman Siddique for the decision. She said that Amman had harassed her with offensive comments, and when she took her complaint to Din, he instead defended Amman and threatened to expel her.

The two have been arrested since and are currently in jail, reports bdnews24.com.

The day after the incident, the university administration formed a committee to inquire into her suicide. No deadline was given for the report, but the administration asked that it be submitted ‘as soon as possible’.

In the past month, the committee has held nine meetings. They have spoken to Abontika’s mother as well as the two jailed suspects. But the investigation has stalled due to complications in securing more information.

Prof Zakir said, “The police have gathered information from the mobile phones of Abontika and the suspects, and also have a post-mortem report. We requested them to share the information for the sake of our investigation, but they are not yet ready to do so.”

“We will speak to the police station on Saturday. If they are willing to share the information, then we will send someone over on Sunday or Monday.”

Prof Zakir said that 45 people had been called in for questioning over the course of the investigation.

“Our work is nearing the end,” he said. “We have taken the statements of the accused teacher Din Islam and Amman Siddique with the permission of the administration. They also provided important information.”

Earlier, Prof Zakir had said regarding the delay in the report, “A letter has been sent to the police asking for information about Abontika’s mobile call list, screenshots from her gallery, Messenger, WhatsApp text, the post-mortem report and all social media conversations. If we get this information from the police, it will ease the way to submitting the report.”

The letter was sent as an email to the district’s superintendent of police on Mar 25. After it did not elicit a response, the same letter was then sent by mail.

Firoz Hossain, chief of Cumilla Kotwali Model Police Station, gave assurances that the university investigation will be given the necessary assistance if a request letter is sent.