Rangpur: The Provost Building of Shaheed Felani Hall at Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur (BRUR) has been inaugurated. Vice-chancellor Professor Dr. Md Showkat Ali officially inaugurated the Provost Building of Shaheed Felani Hall in a simple ceremony arranged on the occasion as the chief guest.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the ceremony was attended by notable figures including the Provost of Shaheed Felani Hall, Professor Dr. Most Sifat Rumana, Director of the university's Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), Professor Dr. Md Tajul Islam, Registrar Dr. Md Harun-or Rashid, as well as Assistant Hall Provosts, Engineering and Administrative Officers, and other concerned persons.
The BRUR authority had previously renamed a residential hall of the university as Felani Hall after the July Uprising, as a mark of deep respect to Felani Khatun. Felani Khatun, a 15-year-old Bangladeshi girl, was shot dead by India's Border Security Force (BSF) while attempting to cross the India-Bangladesh border near Anantapur village under Phulbari upazila in Kurigram district on January 7, 2011.
Her body became famously and tragically known worldwide for being left to hang on the barbed-wire border fence for several hours after the shooting. A photograph of Felani's lifeless body hanging from the fence was widely circulated internationally, sparking massive outrage and protests in Bangladesh and abroad over the BSF's use of excessive force and human rights violations along the border.
Felani has become a symbol demanding an end to border killings and a reminder of the vulnerability of undocumented migrants. A road in Dhaka's Gulshan diplomatic zone has even been renamed "Felani Avenue" in Shaheed Felani Khatun's memory.