“I know this is not a solution, but they are not letting me live. Believe me, I wanted to live… This is not suicide; this is murder. Technically, murder,” these were the words posted on Facebook by Fairuz Sadaf Avantika (24), a student of the 13th batch of the Department of Law at Jagannath University, shortly before her death.
On 15 March 2024, Avantika died by suicide in her home in Cumilla. Before her death, she publicly accused her classmate Raihan Siddiqui Amman of harassment after she rejected his advances. Earlier, on 14 November 2023, Avantika had submitted a written complaint to the university’s proctor through the chairman of the law department. According to the police investigation report, the then proctor Professor Dr. Mostafa Kamal did not take action regarding the complaint.
Following the incident, Avantika’s mother Tahmina Begum filed a case naming Amman as the main accused and Jagannath University Assistant Proctor Din Islam as a second accused. Both were arrested during the early phase of the investigation. After a 17-month investigation, police submitted a charge sheet to the court in August 2025 accusing Amman. The investigation report stated that allegations against him were preliminarily proven, while Din Islam was exonerated, as the allegations against him could not be substantiated.
The investigation also noted an unresolved issue regarding Avantika’s final Facebook post. According to the inquest report, the time of death was recorded at 9:00 PM, but a post from Avantika’s Facebook account appeared at 9:55 PM. The investigation report stated that it was not possible to identify who made the post from the phone after her death.
The police report was prepared after recording statements from 23 individuals, including teachers, students, and university officials, and reviewing messages exchanged between Avantika and Amman. According to the report, the messages supported the allegation of harassment raised by Avantika before her death. The case remains under judicial process following the submission of the charge sheet.
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