Denis Santos
20-year-old Raudha Athif was allegedly murdered after being found dead hanging in her room in Rajshani, Bangladesh.
Athif is a Maldivian model and was featured on a cover of Vogue India in October 2016. Alongside her modeling career, she is studying medicine at the Islami Bank Medical College. The set up when authorities found her body is that of a suicide. However, her brother and her father are pointing out that it is actually a case of murder.
Rayyan Athif, her brother, said in an interview with an American website, WND, that her sister was brutally killed. He said Muslim extremists entered her room and murdered his sister because she’s not wearing Islamic clothing.
Being known as a model, Raudha used her platform to support those who were in the similar position as hers–subjugated over religious controversies.
“Raudha’s style of clothing was branded as ‘immodest’ and ‘un-Islamic’ even though she adhered to the dress code in the college premises by wearing a veil covering her face,” Rayyan told WND.
What does the Police say?
Bangladesh Police is yet to rule out Raudha’s murder as a suicide, however, Amin Hossain, an assistant Commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police Detective Branch, concluded that there could be a chance that the ex-vogue model did not commit suicide.
According to a report in News.com, Raudha’s hostel caretaker says she “always looked happy”. It was hard to believe that she could take away her own life, she says.
Vogue did a tribute to their former model as they published an obituary on their website.
