Ritu Jha-
Bangladeshi-origin student Zinat Hossain, who was hit by a train and died at the 55th Street subway station in New York City May 11, had ended her own life, the New York Police Department has confirmed, according to the young woman’s uncle Mian Sapon.
Sapon told indica that the police version matches with the autopsy report.
Earlier, an NYPD spokesperson had denied that a purse-snatching incident or similar petty crime had resulted in Zinat Hossain’s death even as a civil advocacy organization claimed it was a hate crime.
The spokesperson told indica on email that at about 9:20pm May 11 police responded to a 911 call of an aided female at the 55th Street train station at the intersection of New Utrecht Avenue and 55th Street.
Upon arrival at the spot, officers found Hossain lying unconscious and unresponsive on the pavement. Emergency medical services were summoned and pronounced her dead.
Julie Bolcer, Executive Director of Public Affairs and Senior Advisor, NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) told indica,”The medical examiner determined the cause of death as multiple blunt trauma. The manner of death is suicide.”
The Daily Star newspaper had reported that police were looking at the possibility of purse-snatchers trying to take Zinat’s bag and pushing her toward the subway rail track in the process.
Her parents moved to New York from Daudkandi in Bangladesh six years ago. Sapon described Zinat as a kind, bright, intelligent young soul full of life.
Asked what might have pushed such a bright young woman to take her life, Sapon said she had recently joined Hunter College without discussing it with her family and her parents were worried about her health. Her right arm had a deformity and she was struggling as a result.
The uncle said it appeared that she wanted to avoid her surroundings as much as possible and so may have chosen a college a long-distance away. She used to leave by the 8 am train and return only at 8 pm. This made her parents worry, as she had a poor appetite and was also under mental stress.
One hour before her scheduled return on a fateful day, her mother had called her but by then, it was all in the media and “she was no longer with us”.
He said while he has not spoken to her doctor directly, he had been told that she was also seeing a psychiatrist and like many other young adults might have been a victim of the post-pandemic scenario. “The pandemic affected us all, but young adults suffered the most,” Sapon told indica.