Aritry suicide case: Two teachers get bail after surrendering to court

Two teachers from Viqarunnisa Noon School and College have received bail after surrendering to court in the case over the suicide of ninth grade student Aritry Adhikary.

Former Viqarunnisa Principal Nazneen Ferdous and Day Shift head Zinnat Akhtar turned themselves in to the Dhaka magistrate’s court on Monday and petitioned for bail.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury accepted the petition, setting bond at Tk 5,000, said court police General Registration Officer Jalal Uddin.

The two teachers came to court nearly a month and a half after the case was filed against them.

Aritry committed suicide at her home in Santinagar on Dec 3.

Aritry’s family claim that she was caught with a mobile phone during an exam and her parents were called to a meeting with the principal, where they were ‘mistreated’, leading to her suicide.

According to the school authority, Aritry was caught cheating on the exam with a mobile phone.

A group of Viqarunnisa students and guardians launched a protest against the circumstances of Aritry’s death the day after her suicide. It continued for three days. The Ministry of Education launched an investigation into the incident and fired Hasna Hena, the school’s Acting Principal Nazneen Ferdous and the head of one of the branches of the school, Zinnat Akhtar. Their MPOs were also scrapped.

The Ministry of Education also recommended that police and RAB take legal action against them.

Police arrested one of the suspects, Hasna Hena, but did not move to arrest the other two.

After her arrest a group of students held protests demanding her release. Hena was granted bail four days after she was taken to jail.

The court has set Feb 11 as the deadline for police to submit the investigation report in the case over ‘instigating suicide’.