Kathmandu, December 19

Binisha Shah, a Nepali student pursuing dental education in Pioneer Dental College and Hospital in Dhaka, today committed suicide in her hostel room.

Twenty-year-old Shah, who was a third-year student in the college, was found hanging from the ceiling fan.

Nepali Embassy in Dhaka confirmed the incident. Deputy Chief of Mission Dhan Bahadur Oli said the embassy was informed about the incident at around 3:00pm by the deceased’s friends and the police.

“By the time our representatives reached the incident site, the police had already conducted on-site investigation and taken the body to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital for autopsy,” he said.

The embassy then informed the family of the deceased in Janakpur and the education consultancy through which she had come to Bangladesh.

Oli said the embassy representatives, including the military attaché and second secretary, held talks with the college principal and friends of the deceased at the incident site.

“Her friends told our representatives that she had her exam today. During the exam, the invigilator asked her to get out of the class for a while, but let her in later. Frustrated, she left the exam hall midway and rushed to her hostel room,” said Oli.

Worried, her hostel room-mate, after completing her exams, also rushed to their room, which was locked from inside. After the room did not open for several minutes, she called the hostel staff and later the police. The police forcibly opened the door only to find Shah hanging from the ceiling, according to Shah’s friends who briefed embassy representatives about the incident.

According to local media that quoted a college employee, Abdul Gafurs, Shah had missed the deadline for tuition fee payment and the finance department had interrogated her this morning.

Officer-in-charge of Bhatara Police Station Kamruzzaman told the local media, “I was informed at 2:15pm, and a police team was sent to the spot.”

The police said investigations were under way.

According to local media, her classmates alleged that Shah committed suicide due to excessive pressure from her teachers and college authorities. The college authorities had demanded two lakh taka from each student before issuing them admit cards for Term 2 examinations, her friends told local media.

A local news portal, jagonews24.com, quoted Shah’s friends as alleging that questions for term  exams were being made harder to fail more students and subsequent teachers pass them in exchange for 50 to 70 thousand taka.

The college is the first and the oldest private dental college in Bangladesh. It was established in 1995 at Malibagarea of Dhaka. It was relocated to its permanent campus at Baridhara in 2007.

The Himalayan Times did a story on Nepalis enrolled in blacklisted Bangladesh colleges on November 24. Thirty-seven medical colleges in Bangladesh where Nepali students have enrolled for MBBS and BDS programmes have been blacklisted, putting the fate of more than 200 Nepalis studying there in the balance.