The namaz-e-janaza and burial of University of South Florida PhD student Nahida Sultana Bristy, who was killed in Florida, United States, were held in Madaripur Sadar on Saturday.
She was burried in Char Gobindapur village of Khoajpur Union in the evening.
Earlier in the morning, Bristy’s body arrived in Dhaka on an Emirates Airlines flight at 9:15am.
After meeting Bristy’s family, Madaripur Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Wadia Shabab said: “Bristy could have made a major contribution to the country’s development after completing higher education and returning home. The Bangladesh government and the embassy are in regular contact with the US administration to ensure the maximum punishment for those who killed her. The administration is standing by Bristy’s family in any need.”
At noon, relatives and neighbors gathered at her village home to see the body. When the ambulance carrying the body arrived around 1:30pm, emotional scenes unfolded.
Her mother fainted repeatedly in grief. Clinging to Bristy’s aunt, she cried: “Where has my piece of heart gone, leaving me behind? Whom will I live with now? Bring back my Bristy.”
With a voice choked with emotion, Bristy’s father Zahir Uddin Akon said: “I built the house in Bristy’s favorite design so that we could all stay together when we came to the village during Eid. She was supposed to come home in July to inaugurate this house. But my daughter went to the hereafter without inaugurating the house. Now how will I live in this house?”
He said Bristy had always planned to return home after completing her PhD and contribute to the country through research in chemical engineering.
Bristy’s cousin Tuli Akter, a Class 11 student, said: “Like my sister, I also dreamed of going abroad for higher studies. But after this incident, my family does not want to send me outside. If this murder is not given severe punishment, students will lose interest in studying abroad. The killer should be hanged.”
Nahida Sultana Bristy and Jamil Ahmed Limon, both PhD students at the University of South Florida (USF), went missing on April 16. Their bodies were recovered on April 24 and April 26.
Limon’s body was brought back to Bangladesh and buried on May 4.