Death of Aritry: Two suspended teachers get ad-interim bail

A Dhaka court yesterday granted four weeks' ad-interim bail to two suspended teachers of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College in a case filed over “provoking suicide” of ninth-grader Aritry Adhikary in December last year.

Metropolitan Magistrate Rashesh Chowdhury passed the order after Nazneen Ferdous, acting principal of the school, and Zinat Akhtar, the morning shift in-charge, surrendered before it and sought bail.

Aritry was found hanging from the ceiling of her home in the capital's Shantinagar on December 3, hours after she and her parents were allegedly insulted by several teachers of the school.

The next day, her father Dilip Adhikary filed the case with Paltan Police Station, accusing three teachers of provoking Aritry's suicide.

The death and the subsequent agitation of students, joined by parents, rocked the 66-year-old institution and prompted the education ministry and the school authorities to form two separate probe committees.

Besides, the High Court directed the education secretary to form another five-member committee, headed by an additional secretary of the ministry, to look into the matter.

Students boycotted classes and demonstrated for three days, but later withdrew their programmes upon assurance from the government that the persons responsible for the incidents will be brought to justice.

On December 5 last year, detectives arrested Aritry's class teacher Hasna Hena, 51, hours after she was suspended by the school authorities. She later secured bail on December 9.

The same day, Nazneen Ferdous and Zinat Akhtar were also suspended, following an order of the education ministry.

In a letter, the ministry also ordered the authorities concerned to cancel the teachers' Monthly Payment Order (MPO) and take legal action against them.