Himu's Window

জীববৈচিত্র্য ও বাস্তুসংস্থান নিয়ে কোনো ধরনের সমীক্ষা ছাড়াই নওগাঁর প্রাচীন আলতাদীঘি পুনর্খনন ও সংস্কারকাজ করেছে বন বিভাগ। এ কাজের জন্য আলতাদীঘির পাড়ের এক হাজারের বেশি গাছ কেটে ফেলা হয়েছে বলে কর্মকর্তারা জানিয়েছেন। বন বিভাগের এমন কর্মকাণ্ডে পরিবেশবাদীরা ক্ষোভ প্রকাশ করেছেন, ক্ষোভের ঝড় উঠেছে সামাজিক যোগাযোগমাধ্যমে। ফেসবুকে ছড়িয়ে যাওয়া দুটি ছবিতে দেখা গেছে, পুনর্খনন ও সংস্কার প্রকল্পের তিন বছরে আলতাদীঘির মাঝের পুকুরসহ একটি ছায়াঘেরা সবুজ এলাকা মরুভূমির চেহারা পেয়েছে। বিশেষজ্ঞরা বলেছেন, বহু শতাব্দী ধরে আলতাদীঘি ও এর আশেপাশে বেড়ে ওঠা একটি সুসংহত বাস্তুতন্ত্রকে ধ্বংস করেছে এ প্রকল্প। রাজশাহী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের (রাবি) এনভায়রনমেন্টাল সায়েন্স ইনস্টিটিউটের পরিচালক অধ্যাপক সাবরিনা নাজ দ্য ডেইলি স্টারকে বলেন, 'এ ক্ষতি অকল্পনীয়। কারণ আমরা কী হারিয়েছি তার কোনো তথ্য নেই।' 'আমরা হয়তো এমন কিছু প্রজাতি নিশ্চিহ্ন করে দিয়েছি, যেগুলোর অস্তিত্ব পৃথিবীতে আর কোথাও নেই। ইতিহাসের সাক্ষী ছিল আলতাদীঘি, যা এখন আর নেই,' বলেন তিনি। নওগাঁ জেলার ধামইরহাট উপজেলায় অবস্থিত ঐতিহাসিক নিদর্শন আলতাদীঘির...

The cause of Sultana Jasmine's death was brain haemorrhage due to excessive stress and a sudden rise in blood pressure, forensic experts of Rajshahi Medical College said yesterday. "As her blood pressure shot up due to stress, two blood vessels inside her brain swelled up and ruptured, causing internal bleeding," Kafil Uddin, associate professor and head of RMC's forensic medicine department, said while explaining the outcome of the autopsy to reporters who went to the hospital for updates. "Ultimately, her body went into a shock," he said, adding that shock is a medical condition when the brain stops receiving oxygen and other nutrients. Meanwhile, Sultana's maternal uncle Nazmul Haque Montu held the Rab members, who kept her in custody till her burial, responsible for the death. "While in their custody, they obviously did something that caused her death," he told The Daily Star yesterday. Sultana, 41, an office assistant of Naogaon's Cha...

No case has been filed yet for the death of Sultana Jasmine, which may delay justice for the victim's family, said a group of eminent citizens in Rajshahi yesterday. Sultana Jasmine was detained in a case filed under the Digital Security Act and had been in Rab custody until her death on March 27. At a press conference in the office of Rajshahi Union of Journalists around noon, the three-member group demanded legal action against the plaintiff of the DSA case filed against Sultana and the quick filing of a case over her death. "If no case is filed for her death, justice will remain elusive for her family." Led by prominent writer Mahbub Siddiki, also president of Heritage Rajshahi, a history-based research organisation, a three-member group of citizens visited Naogaon, where Sultana was from, on Friday. Other members were Prof Iftikharul Alam Mas-ud, a teacher of the Arabic language department in Rajshahi University, and Hasnat Beg, a lawyer and convenor of Rastra Sangsk...

Sultana Jasmine, 41, who died in Rab custody on March 24, had suffered the trauma of domestic violence by her husband in her early life. But refusing to give in, she chose to fight back for building a new life of dignity for herself and her only son. While raising her son as a single mother, she also continued her study and acquired her master's degree a year ago. The Daily Star learnt about Sultana's struggles and dreams during a two-day visit to Naogaon town talking to Sultana's maternal uncle Nazmul Haque Montu, her house owner Delwar Hossain Dulal and her colleagues. "She [Sultana] was close to fulfilling all her life's plans," Montu said. Her dreams were cut short when she died in the Rab custody in Rajshahi, two days after her detention on her way to work. Her death triggered widespread criticisms from rights groups and the High Court questioning Rab's authority to detain her without a case against her. Fifth among six sisters and a brother, Sultana...

The family of Sultana Jasmine, who died in Rab custody, said they would not go for any legal move seeking justice. Her son or her sisters or brothers would not speak about the incident in public or talk to the press for at least six months, said Sultana's maternal uncle Nazmul Haque Montu yesterday. "We didn't file any case and we don't want to lodge any." Sultana, an office assistant of Naogaon's Chandipur union land office, died in the custody of Rab on March 24, two days after she was detained when she was on her way to work. Her death triggered criticism from human rights groups and the High Court questioned under what authority Rab detained her when she was not accused in any case. Meanwhile, Rab headquarters' enquiry cell yesterday called in 11 officials of Rab-5 to the battalion headquarters from its Joypurhat camp for questioning. The officials include a major and an assistant superintendent of police, said Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director of...

Rab arrested on Tuesday the principal accused of the Digital Security Act case that was filed in Rajshahi after the arrest of Naogaon land office employee Sultana Jasmine. Al Amin, 32, of Chandpur was arrested at the capital's Shahjahanpur, according to a press statement issued today by Farzana Haque, staff officer (media) of Rab-3, reports our Rajshahi correspondent. Sultana, a union-level land office employee, was detained on her way to the office in Naogaon town by a patrol team of Rab-5 on March 22. She died in Rab custody at the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital two days later. On March 23, when Sultana was fighting for her life at the RMCH, Enamul Haque, director of local government at the office of Rajshahi divisional commissioner filed the case with Rajpara Police Station in Rajshahi city. In his case, Enamul accused Al Amin, Sultana, and three other unnamed people of using his hacked Facebook to con people by offering them jobs. Since the filing of the case, Rab members ha...

Sultana Jasmine's house in the calm and quiet Chalkdeb Janakalyanpara area of Naogaon town was under watch by a group of unidentified men for about two weeks prior to her arrest, said her landlord. The group of three to five people used to sit on a concrete bench in front of his three-storey house and chit-chat until midnight, said landlord Delwar Hossain Dulal. Sultana, a union-level land office employee in Naogaon, who died in the custody of Rab on Friday, used to live in one of the 650sqft flats on the second floor for a rent of Tk 4,200. Her death triggered a barrage of criticism from human rights groups and the High Court yesterday questioned under what authority Rab picked her up since she was not accused in any case at the time of her detention. "It was an annoyance in our area when some three to five young men started staying in front of my house at night," said Dulal who lives on the ground floor. Around 11:00pm one day, the men knocked at Dulal's door and s...

Sultana Jasmine, a union-level land employee in Naogaon who died in the custody of Rapid Action Battalion on Friday, had suffered a head injury along with brain haemorrhages but what caused it all remains unexplained. Forensic doctors at Rajshahi Medical College (RMC) conducted an autopsy a day after her death that triggered a barrage of criticism from human rights groups with the High Court asking questions. "Sultana Jasmine suffered an injury to her head apart from haemorrhages in her brain," said Associate Prof Kafil Uddin, who led a three-member board formed to conduct the autopsy. The team sent her heart sample to RMC's pathology department for a histopathological report. "We will know the ultimate cause of her death after the report is available," added Kafil Uddin, head of forensic medicine department at the college. Sultana, 38, an office assistant of Naogaon Municipality-Chandipur Union Land Office, was picked up by a Rab-5 patrol team on Wednesday wh...

An employee of a Naogaon union land office who stood accused in a case under the Digital Security Act died in the custody of Rab-5 after suffering haemorrhages of the brain. Rab officers told doctors Sultana Jasmine, 38, suffered a fall. Her son Shahed Hossain Saikat, a student of Chattogram University, said, "She died due to torture in Rab custody. She has a mark of injury on her head." Family members said she was in perfect health. Rab picked up Sultana around 10:00am on Wednesday (March 22) when she was on her way to Chandipur Union Land Office where she was an office assistant, law enforcers said. She died at 10:00am on Friday (March 24) at the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH). A day after her detention, she was sued under DSA in Rajshahi "for syphoning off money from job seekers using a Facebook account". Faisal bin Ahsan, officer-in-charge of Naogaon Sadar Police Station, told The Daily Star that Rab did not inform police about the arrest and they lea...