Blinded B.C. student support grows
CBC News
Posted: Jun 22, 2011 3:47 PM PT
Last Updated: Jun 22, 2011 7:12 PM PT
Support continues to grow for a University of British Columbia graduate student allegedly blinded by her husband.
Rumana Monzur, who is pursuing a master's degree in political science in Vancouver, was on a visit home to Bangladesh when police say that on June 5 she was attacked by her enraged husband, who gouged her eyes with his hands and bit off part of her nose.
Monzur, who was on leave from her assistant professor position in Bangladesh, is recovering in LabAid Hospital in the capital, Dhaka, where doctors say her vision appears to have been damaged beyond repair.
Her husband, Hasan Sayeed Sumon, is in police custody.
The couple have a five-year-old daughter, Anusheh, who now is being looked after by Monzur's parents.
"It's like you're watching a horror movie, that's what was going on in my mind," said friend Saif Islam in Vancouver after watching CBC News television report on Monzur. "How can that happen in this century?"
Studies might continue
Islam and his wife were a first point of contact for Monzur when she arrived in Vancouver in September 2010, helping her settle and get acquainted with the local Bangladeshi community.
Monzur's visit to Bangladesh earlier this month was the first time she'd returned in nine months.
"So that she can't come back to Canada, he brutally attacked her and destroyed both of her eyes," said Islam. "If he took her eyes, Rumana cannot study anymore."
Sumon has yet to stand trial on the charges related to Monzur's injuries.
Islam, who is working on his doctorate about domestic violence in Bangladesh, is one of many friends in Vancouver who have signed an open online letter denouncing Monzur's husband's claims that she was having an affair, sparking the assault.
"To blame Rumana for the incident ... that she had it coming, something like that ... I wanted to oppose this," Islam said.
UBC president Stephen Toope has also published an online letter in support of Monzur.
Toope noted that a number of fundraising efforts for the injured student are underway at UBC and said she might still be able to continue her studies at the university.
"UBC is also working to prepare options for Ms. Monzur to complete her master's degree in political science," Toope wrote.
"While this cannot, of course, be Rumana's immediate priority, we want her to know that everyone at UBC is thinking of her and of her future."
A fundraising rally is scheduled for Sunday outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.
With files from Priya RamuShare Tools
Latest British Columbia News Headlines
- Bald and beautiful women host fashion fundraiser
- Two Vancouver women are hosting a fashion show to help people better understand alopecia areata, a condition that causes extreme hair loss. more »
- Former B.C. politician Garde Gardom dead at 88
- Former B.C. lieutenant-governor and attorney general Garde Basil Gardom has died at the age of 88. more »
- I-5 bridge reopens after collapse
- Travellers heading south from Vancouver to Seattle no longer have to make a lengthy detour to get around a damaged bridge on the I-5. more »
- Trumps announce exclusive tower deal in Vancouver
- U.S. business magnate Donald Trump and his family are in Vancouver to announce the details of an exclusive deal to build the city's first Trump Tower. more »
Must Watch
Top News Headlines
- Obesity now recognized as a disease
- The American Medical Association has voted to recognize obesity as a disease, while doctors in Canada say they also treat it as such. more »
- Neil Macdonald: Washington's obsession with leakers
- Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are just the most prominent targets in an all-out legal and propaganda campaign that America's security apparatus is mounting against leakers everywhere, Neil Macdonald writes. more »
- Caregiving dads stigmatized at work suggests UofT study
- Fathers who participate in child rearing and housework are likely to be labeled slackers and "failed men" at work, according to a study spearheaded by researchers at the University of Toronto and Long Island University. Are active dads the norm at your workplace? more »
- Dozens of children seized from Manitoba Mennonite community
- Child welfare authorities have removed all but one child from a small Mennonite community in rural Manitoba. more »
- B.C. teacher duct-taped students' mouths
- B.C. backcountry mobile maps cause concern
- Parents of son 'brutally beaten' playing hockey want charges
- Police probe death of woman, 27, in Kelowna home
- Hundreds attend 'Change Brazil' protest in Vancouver
- Failed condo pre-sale deal costs Vancouver buyer $750K
- Trumps announce exclusive tower deal in Vancouver
- The class photo that made a father cry
- Wearing a mask at a riot is now a crime
