The High Court on Wednesday ordered the Islamic University authorities to suspend its five female students who were found involved in the torture and humiliation of a first year student at Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall on the campus. The HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil passed the order. The court also asked the university authorities to remove the provost from the dormitory. The five students are—vice president of IU unit Bangladesh Chhatra League Sanjida Chowdhury Antara of Statistics Department, activists Tabassum Islam of Finance and Banking Department, Israt Zahan Meem of Law Department, Halima Khatun Urmi of Fine Arts Department, Moabiya of Finance and Banking Department. The five suspended students won’t be allowed to take part in the academic activists of the university and cannot stay on the campus, said the court. Besides, it asked the IU authorities to allot Fulpori Khatun  a dormitory as per her choice. Also Read: Torture of Fulpori demonstrates university admin’s failure: Judicial inquiry report Advocate Gazi Md Mohsin stood for the writ petitioner and Advocate Shah Manjurul Haque stood for Islamic University while Deputy Attorney General tushar Kanti Roy represented the state. On Tuesday, the judicial inquiry committee formed to probe the torture on Fulpori Khatun, a first year student of Banking and Finance Department of the university, found that the girl was tortured brutally and inhumanly and the university authorities failed to act properly. It also found the five students responsible for the incident. The report was submitted before High Court bench of Justice JBM Hasan and Justice Raziq Al Jalil The HC bench fixed Wednesday for passing an order in this regard. Also Read: IU students demand expulsion of five BCL activists over torture at dormitory The inquiry committee found their involvement in the incident and said hall provost and house tutor totally failed to perform their responsibilities. The university proctor also showed negligence and indifference in discharging his duties, said the report. Fulpori, a first year student of Finance and Banking department, was tortured and humiliated by Islamic University unit of BCL vice-president Shanjida Chowdhury Antara and her cohorts at Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall on the campus in Kushtia on February 12. The incident came to light after the victim left the hall and disclosed the matter to her seniors and her family members the next day. The BCL leader also threatened that she would release the video on social media if the student discloses the matter to anyone, according to the complainant. The student lodged a written complaint with the university administration, including the university proctor, student adviser and the hall provost, demanding punishment of those involved in the incident on February 14. Two probe bodies were formed by the Islamic University authorities and the Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall administration after the victim’s complaints to them. The probe bodies submitted their probe reports to the university administration on Sunday. A writ petition was also filed by Gazi Mohammad Mohsin, an alumnus of the university and a lawyer, with the High Court. The Kushtia district administration, meanwhile, formed a three-member inquiry committee, led by additional district magistrate ANM Abujar Gifari, and asked it to submit the inquiry report within seven days following a High Court order on February 20. Accused BCL leader Antara and activist Tabassum left the hall following the High Court order. The five students were expelled from Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall on Monday as the hall authorities found their involvement in the assault on Fulpori.      

Authorities suspended two invigilators after an answer sheet of an HSC examinee went missing from an exam centre in Gazipur’s Tongi on Thursday. According to sources at the centre, a student of Tongi Shahaj Uddin Sarker School and College was involved in the case as he attended his Chemistry Second paper examination at Tongi Pilot School and Girls College centre on Thursday.  “Although the total number of examinees at my centre is 780, we found 779 answer sheets while counting. We called upon the examinee and questioned him about the missing answer sheets, to which he replied that he had submitted the papers to the invigilators of his room,” said Md Alauddin Mia, Secretary of the exam center and Principal of Tongi Pilot School and Girls College. Read: Irregularities in HSC exam centre: Showcause notice sent to Habibullah Bahar College “We’ve informed the officials about the incident,” he said. Rebeca Sultana, Gazipur district Education Officer, said that the two invigilators--Atiur Rahman and Monira Khanam--have been suspended from their duties and issued a show-cause notice. “We’ve informed Dhaka Education Board officials about the incident. They’ll decide what to do about the missing answer sheet and the invigilators,” said Rebeca.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has suspended five of its officials for negligence in duty over the snatching of two convicted militants  from the premises of a Dhaka court on Sunday. The suspended police officials are Matiur Rahman, Court Inspector of the lockup of Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Nahidur Rahman Bhuiyan, in-charge (sub-inspector) of the lockup, ATSI Md Mohiuddin, constables Sharif Hasan and Abdus Sattar, the policemen responsible for taking the militants to the court. Read: Two militants convicted to death in Dipan murder case flee Dhaka court lock-up Jashim Uddin, Deputy Police Commissioner of DMP’s Prosecution department, confirmed the matter on Monday. “We’re currently investigating the incident and we’ll get the real picture once the investigation is done.” Jashim said. On Sunday, two members of the banned militant outfit  Ansar al-Islam, who were sentenced to death in Jagriti Publications publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan murder case, escaped from the premises of Dhaka Chief Judicial Magistrate Court (Dhaka CMM Court). Read: Militants flee Dhaka Court: Red Alert issued, says Home Minister The escapees are Md Abu Siddique Sohel alias Sakib alias Sajid alias Shahab and Moinul Hasan Shamim alias Samir alias Sifat alias Imran. Publisher Dipan, son of Prof Abul Kashem Fazlul Huq of Dhaka University, was hacked to death in his office on the second floor of Aziz Supermarket at Shahbagh in Dhaka on October 31, 2015.

Three Biman Bangladesh Airlines officials have been temporarily removed from their duties over the incident of a collision between two planes at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA), the airlines’ media wing said on Friday. The collision happened on the night of July 3. The suspended officials are—Principal Engineer Md Harunur Rashid Chowdhury, Engineering Officer Shah Newaz and Junior Technical Officer Nurul Alam. Tahera Khondker, Biman’s General Manager (Public Relations), said that the three officials were suspended on July 5. Read: Biman offers chartered domestic flight service

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has suspended its principal engineer and four other officials as two of the carrier's Boeing aircraft recently suffered damage after a collision in a Dhaka airport hangar. The decision was taken based on the report of the investigation committee formed by the civil aviation and tourism ministry, said Dr Abu Saleh Mostafa Kamal, Biman's managing director and CEO. The five officials include Principal Engineer Mohammad Badrul Islam, three engineer officers, and a ground support equipment operator. They were held responsible for violating section 55 of the service rules of Bangladesh Biman Corporation Employees (1979) Regulations, a punishable offence, according to the report. On April 10, a Boeing 737 collided with Boeing 777 while exiting the hangar. The radome and front bulkhead of the 777 aircraft and the horizontal stabiliser on the left of the 737 aircraft were partially damaged. This was the third accident to befall the Biman fleet since mid-February this year. After undergoing repairs, both aircraft returned to service. Clashes like this usually occur due to the carelessness of tow truck operators or ground teams. Also read: Collision between two Biman planes at Shahjalal Int’l Airport

The order to suspend a train ticket checker for fining three ticketless travellers on Dhaka-bound “ Sundarban Express” will be withdrawn , Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan said on Sunday amid call for his resignation for the unfair action against the TTE. He also said that he felt embarrassed by the phone call his newly married wife made to a railway official getting involved in the incident. “A probe has already been ordered to into the matter and how they (the ticketless travellers) lodged a written complaint so quickly,” he told reporters  at Rail Bhaban.  “Action against those responsible will be taken after the investigation,” he said adding a show-cause notice has been issued against Nasir Uddin, Pakshi divisional railway commercial officer (DCO) to explain why he suspended the travelling ticket examiner (TTE) Shafiqul Islam. READ: Not involved in TTE suspension, passengers were not my relatives: Sujan Shafiqul, who works at Bangladesh Railway’s Pakshey Division, was suspended on Friday, a day after he fined three individuals for travelling in an air conditioned coach without tickets claiming that they were relatives of the railway minister. Angered by the fine the three lodged a complaint to the railway authorities accusing the TTE of “misbehaving” with them. The suspension of the TTE in which the railway minister’s wife reportedly had a role touched off widespread criticism on the social media with Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) calling on the minister to leave office to allow a fair investigation into the incident. Talking to reporters on Saturday the minister denied that the ticketless travellers are his relatives. A day later on Sunday he changed his statement though. Replying to a question over denying the passengers as his relatives, the minister said “Now I have come to know that those who were travelling by the train are relatives of my wife.”  “Since I got married for the second time nine months ago I had to talk to my wife for their identity. Until Saturday I was totally unaware of it,” he added. “My wife complained about the ‘misbehavior’ of the TTE but did not talk about the suspension. Whatever she did without informing me was not right and it embarrassed me,” he said. Responding another question whether Bangladesh Railway should award the TTE Sujan said may be he would be awarded or promoted. Earlier on Saturday, the minister claimed to have no involvement in the suspension of a TTE Shafiqul Islam, over “misbehaving with passengers”.  On Friday, news broke of a TTE on a train being suspended for fining three people claiming to be railway minister’s relatives who were travelling without tickets. The TTE was said to have been suspended over a phone call without being given a chance to even defend himself.  Sujan also claimed that he is not aware of the suspension of the railway official.       Meanwhile, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has condemned the suspension of  a TTE. TIB in a press release on Saturday said that “As such a situation has arisen involving the Railway Minister and the ticketless passengers used his identity, he should resign from his position temporarily for the sake of a fair and impartial investigation into the incident.”

The Jahangirnagar University authorities on Friday announced suspension of all offline activities till February 6, in light of the latest surge in Covid-19 cases across the country. However, online classes will be held and the dormitories will remain open during this period. The decision came from an administrative meeting of the university. READ: Jahangirnagar University students attacked All educational activities like classes, tutorial, assignment and presentation will continue through online till further order but the final examinations will remain postponed. Fresh dates will be communicated later on for those who have routine exams. READ: Cumilla, Jahangirnagar university students protest DU student’s rape If the situation does not become normal by this period, the final exams will be completed by applying online policy, it added.

Cox’s Bazar municipal council resumed civic services on Monday afternoon, a day after stopping the work to protest a case filed against the city’s mayor. The services were suspended on Sunday afternoon after mayor Mujibur Rahman was sued for an attempted murder of a former Bangladesh Chhatra League leader. This caused an immense suffering to the locals seeking services during the time.  At 2 pm Monday Mahbubur Rahman Chowdhury, the panel mayor 1, who is also organizing secretary of district Awami League,  announced the resumption of services at a press briefing. Mahbubur said, “The indefinite suspension of services was called in protest against the case filed against the mayor. It has been lifted as we got assurance in a meeting that the case will be withdrawn.” On October 27, around 9:30pm former BCL leader Monaf was shot by some miscreants in front of a market in Cox’s Bazar Sugandha Beach Point. He was at first rushed to Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital and later was transferred to Chattogram Medical College Hospital as his condition deteriorated.  A case was filed in this regard accusing municipal mayor and general secretary of district AL Mujibur Rahman and some others named and unnamed people upon a complaint lodged by Monaf’s brother Shahjahan. On Sunday, as the news of the case filing spread, members of the ruling party took position at the Sugandha, Kalatali, Laboni Beach points and other important points and demonstrated by lighting fire. The demonstrations disrupted normal life in the tourist city for hours.

No long-distance bus was allowed to leave or enter capital Dhaka on Tuesday as the government enforced tougher restrictions in an effort to beat the deadly Coronavirus. As many people were not aware about the suspension of the bus services on long routes, they thronged Gabtoli, Syedabad and Abdullahpur bus terminals on Tuesday morning to catch buses to reach their destinations. Some of them returned home after a long wait and some others were seen looking for alternative vehicles to move to their destinations. Also read: Bus services resume in Bangladesh cities The decision to suspend the bus services was taken on Monday night after announcing a strict lockdown in seven adjacent districts of Dhaka to stop the transmission of Coronavirus amid rising infections in different districts, as it is believed to have been caused by Delta variant. The districts are Narayanganj, Gazipur, Munshiganj, Manikganj, Madaripur, Rajbari and Gopalganj districts. Akhter Hossain, traffic inspector at Uttara's Rajlakkhi, said Gazipur is one of the seven districts where lockdown has been enforced. No long-route bus left the city for Mymensingh and neither one came from that district. Also read: Govt mulls resuming public transport services AC (traffic-Dasus Salam) Iftekharul Islam said as Manikganj district has gone under lockdown, no bus from the southern part of the country neither entered nor left Dhaka. Only the movement of vehicles providing emergency services is allowed. AC (traffic-Jatrabari) Tariqul Islam Masud said the movement of long-route buses on Dhaka-Mawa highway remained halted since Tuesday as Munsiganj district is under lockdown. The movement of long-route buses on Dhaka-Chattogram highway remained halted as Narayanganj went under lockdown. The lockdown in the seven districts will remain in force until June 30 midnight. However, emergency services like transportation of agricultural equipment and inputs (seeds, fertilizer, insecticides, agri-machinery), crops, food items, relief activities, health services, Covid-19 vaccination, water, power, gas, fire service, port activities, telephone, internet services, mass media (electronic and print), private security services, postal services and offices related to emergency services, their employees, vehicles will remain out of the purview of the restrictions, says an official circular issued in this regard.

The ongoing suspension of domestic flights and charter flights of helicopter/general aviation passenger flights has been extended until April 28. The restriction came after the government decided to extend the strict lockdown to contain the rapid spike of Covid-19 infections and deaths. Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) issued a circular in this regard on Monday. The order will come into effect from April 21. Read US-Bangla to operate international flights on four routes from Saturday All other conditions of the circular under reference will remain unchanged, the circular said. Flight operations on domestic routes were suspended after the government enforced a lockdown in the first week of April. Covid-19 situation update Bangladesh again broke all previous records of Covid-19 deaths registering 112 fatalities in a 24-hour period until Monday morning. Also read: US-Bangla to operate international flights on four routes from SaturdayThe country saw over 100 deaths for the fourth consecutive day. The latest fatalities pushed up the death tally to 10,497 with a mortality rate of 1.45 percent, according to a handout from the Directorate General of Health Services.Besides, 4,271 new cases were reported during the period. The infection rate was 17.68 percent, down from 19.06 percent on Sunday. Also read: Over 200 protest flight cancellation at Dhaka airport