She was preparing to go to her in-laws in a grand ceremony. Now Jannatul rests in eternal sleep

She fell ill while on JUCSU vote-counting duty

Jannatul Ferdous Moumita had been preparing for a formal ceremony to visit her husband’s home after a modest wedding in January. She never made it.

The 30-year-old assistant professor of fine arts at Jahangirnagar University collapsed on Friday morning while on duty for the university’s central students’ union (JUCSU) election vote count.

Her untimely death has devastated her family, students and colleagues, who wept as they laid flowers and offered their final respects.

She was buried at Arifpur Sadar graveyard in Pabna after another funeral prayer at Kacharipara Jame Mosque following the evening prayer on Friday.

Jannatul was the only daughter of journalist Rumi Khondoker of the daily Ittefaq and former teacher Lutfun Nahar Poli.

“I spoke to her after she returned home from her JUCSU election duty,” Rumi said.

“On her way back to the counting room in the morning, she suddenly collapsed and died.”

Pabna Press Club’s former secretary Utpal Mirza said, “The preliminary wedding rituals in Savar were already completed. A grand ceremony was planned soon, but that will never happen.

“We never imagined Rumi bhai’s only daughter would leave so suddenly. This kind of death is unbearably hard to accept.”

Prof Abdul Alim, former dean of Bangla literature at the Pabna University of Science and Technology, added: “I knew the family for years through her father’s journalism. She often came to my home during her student days. Her dream was to teach and pursue research. With her death, the university has lost a bright academic — an irreparable loss.”

A former student of Pabna Government Girls’ School and Pabna Women’s College, Moumita completed both her honours and master’s degrees in fine arts at Jahangirnagar University before joining as a lecturer in 2021.

In the JUCSU polls, she had been assigned as the polling officer for Pritilata Hall.

Returning officer Sultana Akter described her colleague’s final hours.

“She had worked tirelessly through the day and went to bed under immense pressure,” she said. “Perhaps she could not sleep. In the morning, she felt unwell and could not come on her own. Guards were sent to fetch her. She collapsed while climbing to the third floor and died shortly afterwards, before she could be taken to hospital.”

The JUCSU election results were delayed after the commission abandoned the plan to use OMR machines in response to objections from the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and decided to count votes manually.

By Friday night, results were still not declared.

Criticising that decision, Sultana said: “If the results had been released on Thursday, she might not have died.”