Jagannath University (JnU) assistant proctor Deen Islam,  who was arrested in connection with student Abantika's suicide, walked out of jail on bail on Wednesday (May 08, 2024). However, another accused, Abantika’s classmate Amman Siddiqui, is still behind the bar. Read more: Accused JnU teacher, student arrested over Abantika's suicide Deen Islam walked out of Cumilla jail on Wednesday afternoon, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Cumilla Kotwali Police Station Md Feroz Hossain confirmed. OC Md Feroz Hossain said Deen Islam was released on bail today on the order of the High Court. Family members of Deen Islam received him at the jail gate after his release, he said. Earlier on March 16, police arrested the two accused following the death of Fairuz Abantika who committed suicide the previous day. Read more: Abantika’s death: JnU students place 6-point demand

Suicide is a tragic and complex phenomenon that affects individuals and communities worldwide. Mental health negligence, particularly concerning men, has become a pressing concern. Despite increasing awareness of mental health issues, men often face unique challenges that make them more vulnerable to suicide. This article delves into the various factors contributing to this troubling trend. Global and Local Statistics of Suicide: Male vs Female Females, especially those under 25, exhibit higher rates of non-fatal suicidal behaviour and suicidal ideation, and attempt suicide more frequently. But, in reality, males have a significantly higher rate of completing suicide than females. This phenomenon is commonly known as the gender paradox in suicide. Around the world, more men than women die by suicide. According to Wikipedia, in 2008 and 2015, the number of male suicides was about 1.8 to 1.7 times higher than female suicides globally. In Western countries, men are three to four times more likely to die by suicide compared to women. In 2015,  around two-thirds of global suicide deaths (representing about 1.5% of total deaths) were among men. Data from The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) in the USA for 2016 revealed that for every female suicide, there were about 3.5 male suicides. However, in China, the rates of suicide between men and women were almost the same. The male vs female suicide ratio is 9.1:10.3. Read more: Good Stress: What Are the Benefits of Eustress? In 2019, the rate of suicide deaths among males was over 3.5 times higher than that among females. By 2021, this disproportionate rate increased to over 3.9 times higher.  According to the CDC, in the USA, men experienced a suicide rate four times higher than that of women in 2021-2022.  In Bangladesh, the scenario is quite the same – more men than women commit suicide here. In 2017, there were over 11,000 recorded suicides. The average age for male suicide victims was about 28.86 years, while for females, it was about 25.31 years old. In 2019, 3.70 people took their own lives out of every 100,000 people in Bangladesh. The male suicide rate was 5.70 while the number is 1.70 for females. Also, the police records indicate a rising trend in suicides over the years. At the same time, psychologists estimate that around 11,000 people end their lives annually in Bangladesh. Read more: Students with Depression: Tips for Parents and Educators

A court here on Tuesday (March 19, 2024) sent Jagannath University teacher Din Islam, who was relieved from assist proctor post of the university,to jail after completion of his one-day remand in a case over the death of Law Department student Fairuz Abontika by suicide. Judge of Cumilla Chief Judicial Magistrate Court Abu Bakar Siddique passed the order when he was produced before the court after remand. A Cumilla court on Monday placed Jagannath University’s suspended student Raihan Siddique Amman and teacher Din Islam on a two and one-day remand respectively in the case. Cumilla train derailment: 4 bogies removed The court also ordered the investigation officer of the case filed to submit a report within seven days. Abontika, a student of the 2017-18 academic year of the JnU Law Department, hanged herself at her Cumilla residence after accusing her classmate Amman and relieved assistant proctor Din Islam in a Facebook post around 10 pm on Friday. In the Facebook post before committing suicide, Abantika said that Amman Siddique and Din Islam would be responsible for her suicide. Hours after death of Abontika by suicide, massive protest broke out and continued till Saturday morning, demanding justice for the student. In the face of student movement, the university authorities were compelled to relieve the assistant proctor and suspend the student to assuage the movement. Jagannath University student Faizur laid to rest in Cumilla family graveyard Besides, the university administration formed a four-member probe committee. Members of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested the teacher and student from Dhaka on Saturday night.

A couple allegedly committed suicide in their house at Borail village in Mohadevpur upazila of Naogaon district early Thursday. The deceased were identified as Sum0n Ali, 40, son of Abdur Razzak, and his newly married second wife Golapi Begum, 30. Family sources said day labourer Sumon recently got married to Golapi Begum without the consent of his first wife Khadiza Akter. Khadija went to her father's house on Tuesday. Taking this opportunity, Sumon brought her younger wife Golapi home. When Khadiza came to know this, she returned home on Wednesday afternoon and got into a quarrel with Sumon and Golapi. Around 9 pm, Sumon and Golapi consumed gas tablets following the altercation. Family members took them to Naogaon 250-bed hospital around 11 pm. Later, Golapi died around midnight and Sumon died around 2 am while undergoing treatment at the hospital. Dr Abu Ansari, a medical officer of the hospital, said that their condition was critical since they were brought to the hospital. Though we prepared to refer them for better treatment, the victims' family members did not want to take them anywhere else. Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Mahadevpur police station Ruhul Amin said the bodies would be handed over to their family after due process.

Sexual predators. Addictive features. Suicide and eating disorders. Unrealistic beauty standards. Bullying. These are just some of the issues young people are dealing with on social media — and children's advocates and lawmakers say companies are not doing enough to protect them. On Wednesday, the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X and other social media companies went before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify at a time when lawmakers and parents are growing increasingly concerned about the effects of social media on young people’s lives. The hearing began with recorded testimony from kids and parents who said they or their children were exploited on social media. Throughout the hourslong event, parents who lost children to suicide silently held up pictures of their dead kids. "They’re responsible for many of the dangers our children face online,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, who chairs the committee, said in opening remarks. “Their design choices, their failures to adequately invest in trust and safety, their constant pursuit of engagement and profit over basic safety have all put our kids and grandkids at risk.” Meta's initial decisions to remove 2 videos of Israel-Hamas war is reversed by Oversight Board In a heated question and answer session with Mark Zuckerberg, Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley asked the Meta CEO if he has personally compensated any of the victims and their families for what they have been through. “I don't think so,” Zuckerberg replied. “There's families of victims here,” Hawley said. “Would you like to apologize to them?” Zuckerberg stood, turned away from his microphone and the senators, and directly addressed the parents in the gallery. “I’m sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered,” he said, adding that Meta continues to invest and work on “industrywide efforts” to protect children. But time and time again, children’s advocates and parents have stressed that none of the companies are doing enough. One of the parents who attended the hearing was Neveen Radwan, whose teenage daughter got sucked in to a “black hole of dangerous content” on TikTok and Instagram after she started looking at videos on healthy eating and exercise at the onset of the COVID lockdowns. She developed anorexia within a few months and nearly died, Radwan recalled. “Nothing that was said today was different than what we expected,” Radwan said. “It was a lot of promises and a lot of, quite honestly, a lot of talk without them really saying anything. The apology that he made, while it was appreciated, it was a little bit too little, too late, of course.” But Radwan, whose daughter is now 19 and in college, said she felt a “significant shift” in the energy as she sat through the hearing, listening to the senators grill the social media CEOs in tense exchanges. “The energy in the room was, very, very palpable. Just by our presence there, I think it was very noticeable how our presence was affecting the senators,” she said. Hawley continued to press Zuckerberg, asking if he'd take personal responsibility for the harms his company has caused. Zuckerberg stayed on message and repeated that Meta's job is to “build industry-leading tools” and empower parents. “To make money,” Hawley cut in. Israeli defense minister says war on Hamas will last months as US envoy discusses timetable South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham, the top Republican on the Judiciary panel, echoed Durbin's sentiments and said he's prepared to work with Democrats to solve the issue. “After years of working on this issue with you and others, I’ve come to conclude the following: Social media companies as they’re currently designed and operate are dangerous products," Graham said. The executives touted existing safety tools on their platforms and the work they’ve done with nonprofits and law enforcement to protect minors. Snapchat broke ranks ahead of the hearing and is backing a federal bill that would create a legal liability for apps and social platforms that recommend harmful content to minors. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel reiterated the company’s support on Wednesday and asked the industry to back the bill. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the company is vigilant about enforcing its policy barring children under 13 from using the app. CEO Linda Yaccarino said X, formerly Twitter, doesn’t cater to children. “We do not have a line of business dedicated to children,” Yaccarino said. She said the company will also support Stop CSAM Act, a federal bill that makes it easier for victims of child exploitation to sue tech companies. Yet child health advocates say social media companies have failed repeatedly to protect minors. Profits should not be the primary concern when companies are faced with safety and privacy decisions, said Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of Design It For Us, a youth-led coalition advocating for safer social media. “These companies have had opportunities to do this before they failed to do that. So independent regulation needs to step in.” Republican and Democratic senators came together in a rare show of agreement throughout the hearing, though it’s not yet clear if this will be enough to pass legislation such as the Kids Online Safety Act, proposed in 2022 by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. “There is pretty clearly a bipartisan consensus that the status quo isn’t working," said New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a Democrat. “When it comes to how these companies have failed to prioritize the safety of children, there’s clearly a sense of frustration on both sides of the aisle.” Meta is being sued by dozens of states that say it deliberately designs features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms. New Mexico filed a separate lawsuit saying the company has failed to protect them from online predators. New internal emails between Meta executives released by Blumenthal’s office show Nick Clegg, the company's president of global affairs, and others asking Zuckerberg to hire more people to strengthen "wellbeing across the company” as concerns grew about effects on youth mental health. “From a policy perspective, this work has become increasingly urgent over recent months. Politicians in the U.S., U.K., E.U. and Australia are publicly and privately expressing concerns about the impact of our products on young people’s mental health,” Clegg wrote in an August 2021 email. The emails released by Blumenthal’s office don’t appear to include a response, if there was any, from Zuckerberg. In September 2021, The Wall Street Journal released the Facebook Files, its report based on internal documents from whistleblower Frances Haugen, who later testified before the Senate. Clegg followed up on the August email in November with a scaled-down proposal but it does not appear that anything was approved. “I’ve spoken to many of the parents at the hearing. The harm their children experienced, all that loss of innocent life, is eminently preventable. When Mark says ‘Our job is building the best tools we can,’ that is just not true,” said Arturo Béjar, a former engineering director at the social media giant known for his expertise in curbing online harassment who recently testified before Congress about child safety on Meta’s platforms. “They know how much harm teens are experiencing, yet they won’t commit to reducing it, and most importantly to be transparent about it. They have the infrastructure to do it, the research, the people, it is a matter of prioritization.” Béjar said the emails and Zuckerberg's testimony show that Meta and its CEO “do not care about the harm teens experience” on their platforms. “Nick Clegg writes about profound gaps with addiction, self-harm, bullying and harassment to Mark. Mark did not respond, and those gaps are unaddressed today. Clegg asked for 84 engineers of 30,000,” Béjar said. “Children are not his priority.” Read more: Facebook parent Meta hit with record fine for transferring European user data to US

A total of 513 students have committed suicide across the country in 2023, which is 19 incidents less than previous year when 532 students reportedly committed suicide.  Though the suicidal figure is a slight decrease in 2023 compared to previous year but not as expected, says Aachol Foundation, a youth-led social organisation dedicated to promoting mental health and well-being in Bangladesh. As cold weather continues, Dhaka’s air quality still ‘unhealthy’ Aachol Foundation released the statistics of suicidal  from the data collected by a group of researchers of the organisation at virtual press conference on Saturday. Among the suicide cases, 227 were school students, which is 44.2 percent of the total number of incidents, 140 were college students, which is 27.2 percent, 98 were university students, which is 19.1 percent, and 48 are madrasa students, which is 9.4 percent of the total students. Good educational institutions can make smart citizens: Saber Hossain Among 513 students, there were 204 male students which is 39.8 percent. On the other hand, there were 309 female students which is 60.2 percent.  Reviewing its research data of 2023, Aachol Foundation found frustration was the biggest reason behind student suicide, which accounted for 165 students or 32.2 percent of the total incidents. After that, 14.8 percent committed suicide due to love affair, 9.9 percent students chose to commit suicide due to mental problems, 6.2 percent due to family dispute, 1.4 percent students committed suicide due to family violence while, 4.5 percent of the students committed suicide due to academic stress, 3.5 percent failed in exams and 1.8 percent failed to achieve desired results in public exams and 2.5 percent committed suicide due to sexual harassment and 0.8 percent committed suicide due to humiliation. Bhola can be 2nd biggest port in Bangladesh: Industries Minister

A young man and his lover allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison at Baraichara village in Magura Sadar upazila, police said. The deceased was identified as Swagatam Biswas, 20, and Rupa Sarkar, 25. They were neighbours. 2 die after house catches fire in Magura Magura Police Station Officer-in-Charge Sikandar Ali said, Rupa Sarkar got married to Sujan Sarkar, brother-in-law of Swagatam Biswas's sister, six months ago.  As they lived in the same area, the love affair gradually got deeper. Later, a dispute erupted between their families over their relationship. At around 1:00am last night, both Swagatam and Rupa went out of their houses and ingested poison together, said OC Sikandar Ali . 8-year-old girl electrocuted in Magura Later, the family members rescued them and admitted them to Magura Sadar Hospital where they died in the early hours of Friday. Dr Md Ehsanul Haque Masum, emergency medical officer of Sadar Hospital, said,Rupa and Swagatam were admitted to Magura Sadar Hospital late at night after consuming poison. Biker dead, two pillion riders injured in Magura road accident They later died during treatment, he added. A case of unnatural death has been filed with Magura Police Station. The bodies have been sent to the morgue for autopsy.

A resident student of Dhaka University’s Ziaur Rahman Hall died after falling from the 6th floor of Jamuna block of Bijoy Ekattor Hall. Officer-in-charge of Dhaka Medical College Hospital police outpost Bacchu Mia confirmed the death. 2 schoolgirls ‘die by suicide’ in Magura The deceased Kazi Firoz was a student of Chinese language, of 2019-20 academic session. He stayed in room 203 of Ziaur Rahman Hall of Dhaka University. Suicide rate for young adults in US was worst in over 50 years during pandemic: Study According to Firoz’s roommate, Bin Yamin, “Firoz had been frustrated for a while. We always tried to cheer him up. Yesterday, he came to room around 10:30 pm, prayed, and asked if he owed us money.” “When he was leaving the room, he seemed quite depressed. I was determined to talk to him after his return. But after five minutes, I heard from nearby Bijoy Ekattor Hall that someone had committed suicide,” he added. “We immediately rushed there, and it was Firoz,” he said. Firoz was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital but doctors there declared him dead. CU student commits suicide in dormitory A note was also recovered from his table. The note reads: “Human beings live for dignity. If there is no dignity, life is meaningless... Mother, I’m sorry that I couldn’t keep my words.” Firoz’s body is now at DMCH morgue. After post-mortem, the body will be sent to his hometown Gopalganj. DU Proctor Prof Maksudur Rahman said, “The incident is heart-breaking. Hall authorities will primarily look into the case.”

A 33-year-old woman allegedly hanged herself and her three-year-old daughter with a rope from the celling before at a colony in Chattogram Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) in the city on Tuesday. The deceased were Shahnaz Begum, wife of Shahjahan and their  daughter Eva Akter , of Bank Colony area in Chattogram EPZ area. Read: Jubo League activist hacked to death in Mymensingh Abdul Karim, officer-in-charge of EPZ Police Station, said being informed by local people police recovered the bodies of the mother and the daughter hanging in one rope from the ceiling of their house in the morning. The bodies were sent to Chattogram Medical College and Hospital morgue. Read: Unidentified man killed in N'ganj road crash Mohammad Ershad, brother of Shahnaz, said his sister and brother-in-law used to fight over Shahjahan’s alleged extramarital relationship. The couple had a quarrel over the samje issue on Monday night.  

A 22-year-old woman was found hanging at her residence at Ramnagar village in Rupsa upazila of Khulna district on Saturday. The deceased was identified as Shanta Begum, 22, wife of Sohag Talukdar of  Ramnagar village. Read: Man killed ‘by daughter’ in Chuadanga, wife, daughter held Quoting locals, police said the woman might have killed herself following a family feud. Officer-in-Charge of Rupsa Police Station Md Shahin said the body was sent to KhulnaMedical College Hospital for autopsy. Read: 2 children drown in a pond while trying to pluck guavas in Gaibandha Shanta’s mother Salma Begum filed a case of unnatural death, he said.