Bishakha Devnath

The trial of the sensational Risha murder case can finally resume as the Children's Act, 2013, has been amended plugging loopholes the defence exploited to stall the proceedings.

The administration together with the law enforcement agencies played a role to influence the December 30 polls outcome in favour of the ruling Awami League, the Left Democratic Alliance candidates have alleged.

The manifestoes of different political parties came one after another over the last three weeks, and to the dismay of women's rights activists, promises made ahead of the 11th general elections lack any determination to even try and establish a fair, equal society for women.

Social challenges have held back women's economic participation over the last decade, despite headway made in education, training, entrepreneurship, and jobs overseas.

It has now been over a month that Bhajan (not the real name) travelled to Munshiganj with his family. He doesn't get enough work to make a living there, but he feels it is safer than his home in Monirampur of Jashore ahead of the upcoming national election.

Mazkura Ayub, once an active homemaker, is now leading a life limited to watching television and taking occupational and physiotherapy at a rehabilitation centre. Neither the 63-year-old can walk with ease nor can she move three of her fingers on the left hand.

Plastic banners are everywhere -- on lampposts, walls, flyover pillars and footbridges. Politicians use them for their publicity.

Three-and-a-half-year-old Ashfia Waniya slumped over a desk at the children's ward in a city hospital on November 4, her legs swinging below. She was waiting for her turn to come for a diabetes checkup.

It is with both despair and indifference that I have witnessed the episodes that have unfolded following the TV talk show in which barrister Mainul Hosein insulted journalist Masuda Bhatti by saying she was "choritroheen" (immoral), when asked tough questions.

There were three Ripons in the same friend circle. That's why one of them was given the nickname Sipon. That name, affectionately tossed out, cost the man 16 years of his life, following a murder in the Old Dhaka area where he used to reside with his family.

Abul Kalam dabs a wet swab on a baby's right arm, unperturbed by the infant's scream in pain from burns. His experienced gloved hands run quickly and carefully from the child's elbow down to his fingers as he dresses the wounds.

Writhing in pain on the floor of the female ward of Dhaka Medical College Hospital's burn unit, Anjuara Begum still kept looking beside her to check on her son who was sedated and placed next to her.

Farming is in her blood. As the daughter of a farmer, Shilpi Begum grew up well acquainted with the expertise of growing paddy and vegetables, and rearing livestock. The experience came of great use when she had to shoulder the responsibility of pulling her family,

Paper cut outs of butterflies adorning the walls are the only traces of the room's previous occupant -- 14-year old Suraiya Akhter Risha. Her parents had removed all her photos as the days after her murder turned into months and then years.

Abul Bashar went back home on Wednesday having waited for a heart surgery for two weeks at a public hospital in Dhaka. Exhausted from seeking out all the options, the 70-year-old and his family decided to give in to what fate has in store for them.

The breakthrough discovery of optical biomarkers that can help diagnose cancer has opened up a new field of research and work must continue to get greater benefits from it, said Yasmeen Haque, who led the team behind the discovery.

Mohafez Rahman from Kurigram had to have both of his legs amputated from below the knee recently at Rangpur Medical College Hospital.

Forty-year-old Abu Kalam dug into the towering garbage pile in search of bones at the landfill in the capital's Matuail. He seemed unperturbed by the foul smell which had perhaps taken a backseat to the money he could earn by selling discarded animal parts.

On July 28, fourth-grader Kirtika Tripura Chakma left her school premises to have a quick lunch at her home nearby. When her classes began after the midday break, she had not returned.

It was a moment of pride when Parimal Kumar Das got his autistic son's SSC results this year, but memories of being turned down by other schools flashed through his mind.