In a tragic incident that has sparked widespread discussion, the body of Jannat Ara Rumi, a 30-year-old leader of the National Citizens Party (NCP), the brainchild of Muhammad Yunus, was recovered from her hostel room in Dhaka’s Jigatola area on Thursday morning. Police have preliminarily classified the death as a suicide, attributing it primarily to severe depression stemming from two failed marriages, while also noting the role of intense cyberbullying following a controversial public altercation last month.
Rumi, who worked at a private firm and lived alone on the fifth floor of the Jannati Student Hostel in the old raw market area of Jigatola, was discovered hanging from a ceiling fan with her scarf wrapped around her neck. She was the joint coordinator of the NCP’s Dhaka South (Dhanmondi thana) branch.
According to Hazaribag thana Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md. Hafizur Rahman, the hostel’s housekeeper, raised the alarm after receiving no response to repeated knocks. Upon forcing open the hardboard door, staff found Rumi in a suspended state and immediately notified authorities. Police arrived promptly, broke into the room, and retrieved the body.
The inquest report, prepared by Dhanmondi thana Sub-Inspector (SI) Kamruzzaman in the presence of Rumi’s relatives at the Dhaka Medical College morgue around midday, provided detailed observations of her physical condition. It noted no visible signs of injury or assault on most parts of her body. Her black hair was approximately one foot long, with no marks on her forehead, head, or nape.
Her eyes and mouth were closed, and there were no injuries to her lips, nose, or face. A distinct black crescent-shaped mark was observed on her neck, consistent with hanging. Her hands were positioned vertically along her body with clenched fists, and examinations of her arms, chest, neck (beyond the mark), abdomen, back, thighs, knees, and legs revealed no abrasions, bruises, or other anomalies. All other body parts appeared normal.
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While the inquest ruled out immediate evidence of external violence, police collected necessary samples to determine if Rumi had been subjected to any form of sexual assault prior to death. The full autopsy report, expected soon, will confirm the exact cause of death, though authorities suspect she used her own scarf to hang herself from the fan. Anti-depressant tablets found on her room’s table further supported the narrative of mental health struggles.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Dhanmondi zone Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Jisanul Haque emphasised Rumi’s emotional state, stating she had been distressed for some time due to family conflicts. “Preliminary inquiries suggest she was frustrated by personal issues, leading to this unfortunate event,” he said.
Relatives corroborated this, highlighting her profound depression following two divorces. Rumi, a nursing graduate from Savar’s Ganashasthya Kendra Medical College, left behind a 4-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter from her marriages; the children reside with their respective fathers.
Her cousin, Mehedi Hasan, who rushed to the morgue upon hearing the news, told reporters: “After the second divorce, she was deeply depressed. It seems this led her to take her own life.” Rumi hailed from Patnitala in Naogaon district’s Najipur municipality, where her father is a farmer; she was the second of three siblings, including one brother and two sisters. Her family maintained regular contact with her despite her urban life.
Compounding her personal turmoil was a wave of online harassment that intensified after a November 13 incident at Dhanmondi 32, where Rumi publicly beat up an elderly woman with a green-colored PVC pipe commonly used by Islami Chhatra Shibir for chanting “Joy Bangla,” a slogan associated with the Awami League.
The woman was later shown arrested by the police in an attempted murder case from July 2024, and the mob leader was speared. Rumi later told journalists that she tried to beat the woman but could not.
The torture, captured on video and widely shared, occurred on the day of a lockdown programme by the Awami League against a verdict related to party chief and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
According to NCP central joint member secretary Tarek Reza’s verified Facebook post, Rumi beat the woman with a stick and handed her over to the police, but the footage triggered severe cyberbullying, including threats of murder and rape from Awami League-affiliated accounts.
While police maintain the suicide theory, some NCP colleagues have raised suspicions of foul play.
Central joint convener Samantha Sharmin, visiting the morgue, remarked: “Rumi’s hanging body reminds us of the powerful enemies we face. She was repeatedly threatened on Awami League pages and placed on hit lists, yet no action was taken against those accounts. The state must bear responsibility for her death.” Tarek Reza echoed this in his post, rejecting suicide outright: “We don’t see this as suicideโit’s murder. Those who destroyed my sister’s life won’t live in peace.”
Rumi’s body was handed over to relatives by evening and transported to Naogaon for burial. The case remains under investigation, with police awaiting autopsy results to rule out any external involvement. This incident underscores the intersection of personal mental health challenges and the perils of political activism in a digitally amplified era.
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