Campus & community, Campus news

UC Berkeley student killed in Bangladesh terrorist attack

By Yasmin Anwar

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Tarishi Jain, a UC Berkeley sophomore, was among 20 killed in a terrorist attack in Bangladesh.

Tarishi Jain, a UC Berkeley sophomore, was among 20 killed in the recent terrorist attack in Bangladesh.

UC Berkeley sophomore Tarishi Jain is confirmed to be among the 20 hostages killed by Islamic militants during Friday’s terrorist attack at a restaurant in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Jain, 18, an Indian national, was working on e-commerce growth at Eastern Bank Limited in Dhaka through an internship with UC Berkeley’s Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies. She began the internship in early June.

“We are all very devastated to hear the news about Tarishi Jain. She was a smart and ambitious young woman with a big heart. Our deepest condolences to her family, friends, and the entire Berkeley community,” said Sanchita Saxena, executive director of the Institute for South Asia Studies and director of the Center for Bangladesh Studies.

Jain’s father, Sanjeev Jain, is a Dhaka-based textile merchant and industrialist. He was among family members and friends outside the Holey Artisan Bakery anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones during the 11-hour hostage standoff that started Friday evening.

A graduate of the American International School in Dhaka, Jain came to UC Berkeley in 2015 and was intending to major in economics.

At Berkeley, Jain was a member of the International Students Association at Berkeley, where she was external events committee chair.

“Her unwavering enthusiasm for the organization and its members was undeniable. She was a leader members looked up to, but above all, she was a caring friend who we knew we could rely on,” wrote incoming ISAB president Aradhana Sachdev as part of a statement on the organization’s Facebook page .

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Jain also helped create a clothing line named EthiCal Apparel whose profits are reinvested to provide microloans to low-income people who lack access to banking services.

“She was a very talented young lady with a passion to make a positive difference in the world. It is not just a loss for India or UC Berkeley, but a loss for the world,” said Subir Chowdhury, a quality-management strategist whose donation launched UC Berkeley’s Center for Bangladesh Studies.

A memorial vigil to honor the lives of Jain and others slain in the Bangladesh terrorist attack will be held Tuesday, July 5 from noon to 1 p.m. on the campus’s Sproul Plaza. The event is being hosted by the Associated Students of the University of California.

Remembering Tarishi Jain: A message from Lawrence Cohen, director of the Institute for South Asia Studies