Comilla University students withdraw Dhaka-Ctg Highway blockade after nearly two hours
The students began the blockade at around 11:15am at the Kotbari Bishwaroad area in Cumilla and withdrew it at around 1pm, returning to their campus in a procession.
Comilla University students withdrew their blockade of the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway after nearly two hours today (20 September), demanding the speedy trial and exemplary punishment of those responsible for the killing of Ishayat Shahriar Apratim.
The students began the blockade at around 11:15am at the Kotbari Bishwaroad area in Cumilla and withdrew it at around 1pm, returning to their campus in a procession.
The blockade caused severe traffic congestion on both sides of the highway, stretching for around 10km and causing significant suffering to passengers and drivers. Some ambulances were seen using alternative roads during the protest.
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A passenger travelling to Chattogram, Fahima Akter, said she had boarded a bus from Dhaka in the morning.
"I have been sitting here for more than one and a half hours. The heat has become unbearable," she said.
Bus driver Abdul Matin said he also wanted justice for the killing but questioned the decision to block the highway.
"They could have protested without occupying the road. There is no point in making us suffer like this," he said.
Moinamoti Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Anisul Haque said police were working to ease the congestion.
"We are working to ease the traffic jam. The highway will be cleared soon," he said.
Apratim, the 13-year-old son of Comilla University Associate Professor Dr Nahida Begum, left his home in the Kotbari area with his mother's iPhone to take photographs with friends around 3:30pm on Friday (18 September).
In the evening, family members searched for him in several places, while his father filed a general diary (GD) at Cumilla Sadar Dakshin Police Station.
Yesterday afternoon, police recovered his body from a jungle in the Sananda area, south of the south intersection in Cumilla's Kotbari.
Police said there were severe injury marks on his head.
Based on CCTV footage, police initially detained a youth named Tuhin, who had been with Apratim since that afternoon.
Later, based on information obtained during his interrogation, two more youths, Anas and Fahim Ahmed, were detained, bringing the total number of detainees to three.
Police also recovered the iPhone, stolen from Apratim before his killing, from Tuhin's home.
Apratim was laid to rest at the family graveyard in Cumilla today following two namaz-e-janaza at Comilla University premises and another in Gandhamati of Kotbari.
