Ever since her husband died last April, Tahmina Begum Shabnam has been the sole caregiver for her children. This year, she had promised her daughter Fairuz Sadaf Abontika she would buy her a dress for Eid. But Abontika’s tragic death in March has left her and her family devastated ahead of the holiday.

“On the 22nd of Ramadan last year, we lost Abontika’s father. We came to Cumilla with his body at 3am. And this year, I lost my daughter right before Ramadan. It breaks my heart to think I won’t be able to buy her the Eid dress I promised her. How can I celebrate Eid without her?” said Shabnam.

The death of two family members in the span of a year has left Shabnam and her son grief-stricken.

She reminisced about past Eids the family of four had spent together as tears fell from her eyes.

“From childhood, Abontika would eagerly wait for her father’s Eid holidays. When their father received his salary and Eid bonus, we would all go shopping,” said Shabnam.

“Since my husband, Prof Md Jamal Uddin, was a teacher, my children would never ask for much during Eid. Even when we wanted to get Abontika expensive clothes, she never agreed to it. When we wanted to get her a pricier pair of shoes, she would instead buy some at half the price,” she added.

Zarif, Abontika’s younger brother is awaiting his SSC results ahead of Eid.

“My son is very upset because his sister is no longer with us,” said Shabnam.

“Friends and relatives are sending us gifts for Eid. My heart breaks every time I see the gifts. I don’t allow myself to cry in front of my boy,” she added.

“Every Eid, Abontika would make desserts for us. I am heartbroken to think she is no longer here with us,” said Shabnam.

Before hanging herself from the ceiling fan at their home in Cumilla on Mar 15, Abontika blamed her classmate Amman Siddique and Assistant Proctor Din Islam for her decision to take her own life.

Shabnam told: “My daughter was a good student. She killed herself when she did not get justice from the university authorities. The university is responsible. If they had been more alert, as they are now, Abontika would have been alive. I want the maximum form of punishment for the culprits.”

Abontika’s mother filed a case with the Cumilla Kotwali Police Station, naming Amman and Din Islam on Mar 16. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested both of them over the case and handed them to the Cumilla Kotwali Police on Mar 17.

The university also formed a five-strong committee, led by Prof Zakir Hossain and law officer Ranjan Kumar Das, to investigate the incident. They had been asked to submit a report within seven days, according to JnU Proctor Mohammad Jahangir Hossain.

Though three weeks have passed, the team has yet to submit any reports.

According to the convener of the investigation team, Prof Zakir Hossain, the reports will be submitted after the Eid holidays.