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.      

Students of different departments of Islamic University staged a demonstrations on the campus in Kushtia on Monday night demanding expulsion of five activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League who were found involved in torturing and intimidating a fresher of the university. The students under the banner of Bangladesh Chhatra Union IU unit brought out a torch procession from in front of Jatirpita Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall to press home their demand. The procession ended in front of Zia Moar Chattar after parading main roads of the campus. Later, a brief discussion was held there where the protesters vowed to intensify protest if the university administration fails to take stern action against the accused involved in the ragging incident. Also Read: Torture of Fulpori demonstrates university admin’s failure: Judicial inquiry report They said that the probe body formed by the Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall authorities found the involvement of IU BCL unit vice-president Shanjida Chowdhury Ontora, her cohorts Tabassum Islam, Moyabia Jahan, Israt Jahan Mim and Halima Khatun Urmi in torturing and humiliating Fulpori Khatun, a first year student of Banking and Finance Department, on February12 night. The hall administration expelled the accused from the hall for their involvement in the incident but no action has yet been taken by the university administration despite the probe body formed by them submitted the investigation report on Sunday, they said. They would continue their demonstrations on the campus until their demand is met, IU Bangladesh Chhatra Union unit general secretary Mokhlechur Rahman Sweet said. Among others, IU unit Bangladesh Chhatra Union president Emanul Islam Shohan, its general secretary Sweet and vice-president Mahmudul Hasan spoke at the protest programme.  

A Jahangirnagar University student has allegedly been tortured by some activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League  for not attending guest room and political programmes.  The victim, Sakibul Islam Farabbi, a student of the 49th batch of Statistics Department at the University and a resident of Biswakabi Rabindranath Tagore Hall, gave a written complaint to the provost of the hall regarding the torture incident.  The incident took place last Friday (February 24) around 2 am at the university’s Rabindranath Tagore Hall. Also Read: 'Special exam' at JU: Opportunity turns to burden for students The accused BCL men are Junaid Hasan Rana of English Department, Naimul Islam Sagar of Pharmacy Department, Atiq Shahriar of History Department, Mohtashim Billah of Fine Arts Department, Utsa and Kabbo of Government and Politics Department, Junaid Ivan of Mathematics Department, Imran Mirza of Biochemistry and Bioscience Department and Saikat Islam of Physics Department. They are the students of the 48th batch of the University and followers of JU BCL unit president Akhtaruzzaman Shohel. They’re also residents of Biswakabi Rabindranath Tagore hall.  According to the written complaint, the BCL activists called the students of batch 49 of room no 216 to room no. 219 at 2 am on February 24. Later, the students were physically and mentally abused in various ways by the Chhatra League activists. The BCL men later locked the rooms of the students and forced them to spend the night in the guest room.  While talking to UNB, Farabbi said, “the BCL men asked me why I didn't attend the guest room and political programs? I said I was away for a departmental tour and was also preoccupied with my exams.” Later, the BCL men asked Farabbi to leave the hall.  “After they asked me to leave the hall, I said this hall was allocated in my name and I won’t leave.Then they asked me to undress. So when I refused to undress, they got angry and started beating me,” Farabi said.  “My friends came from the next room and took me away after hearing my screams. Then we spent the rest of the night in the guest room of the hall,” Farabbi told UNB.  However, the accused BCL men denied the allegations of torture.  Denying the allegations, Atiq Shahriar, one of the accused, said that there was no incident of beating or torture.  “The complainant was misbehaving with his friends. He threw one of his friends out of the room. So we went to convince him,” he said.  Another accused, Imran Mirza, claimed the allegation was ‘baseless.’  However, Shakib, a student of the International Department and a witness of the incident, said, "I moved from the room after hearing the sound of slapping."  “Then I saw some of our seniors from the 48th batch beating Farabbi. Later, I escorted him out of the room," he added.  Aktaruzzaman Sohel, president of the university unit BCL, said, "The Chhatra League has declared zero tolerance against ragging.” “Such incidents are not acceptable. If the allegation of torture is true, organizational action will be taken against those involved,” said Sohel.  Professor Nazmul Hossain Talukder, the provost of Rabindranath Tagore Hall, said strict action will be taken following an investigation.        

A group of former leaders and activists of Islamic University unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student organisation of  ruling Awami League, staged a demonstration on the campus in Kushtia for the third consecutive day on Wednesday demanding vice-chancellor Professor Shaikh Abdus Salam’s resignation. Around 30 ex-BCL leaders and activists of IU went to the Vice-Chancellor’s office and kept it under lock and key in the morning, to press home their demand. The protesters vowed to continue their demonstrations on the campus until their demand was met. Earlier, eight audio clips, three between Oliur, a jobseeker at the Mass Communication and Journalism Department and the VC and two others with an official of a ministry went viral on Facebook that sparked  protest and criticism. Also Read: Ex-BCL men stage demo at IU demanding VC’s resignation In the audio clip, the VC purportedly asked Oliur to collect two other candidates to fulfill the requirement for the department’s recruitment board. According to the audio clips, the VC told Oliur that he, Oliur, failed to write his answer to the question of the recruitment test held on October 25, 2022. He also told him that he was not good at his IQ. Also Read: VC’s leaked audio clips: IU postpones 3 departments’ recruitment process The VC advised him over the phone regarding the recruitment test. He assured Oliur that he did not accept the recruitment policy of the University Grants Commission regarding the requirement process of recruiting teachers at Journalism department. IU BCL unit former organising secretary Rasel Joarder told UNB that the vice-chancellor was a corrupt person the audio conversations between him and the job seeker that went viral on social media proved that. Also Read: HC orders Kushtia DC to probe ragging of a female student at IU On Friday night, IU acting registrar HM Ali Hasan filed a general diary with Islamic University police station in this connection.

A petition was filed with a Dhaka Court seeking its permission to file a case against 14 leaders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) in connection with the attack on Chhatra Odhikar Parishad activists on October 7. President of Chhatra Odhikar Parishad Bin Yeamin Molla filed the petition with Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shafi Uddin. The court also recorded the statement of the plaintiff and it will pass an order later, said bench assistant of the court Goutam Chandra Das. The 14 BCL leaders and activists are Mahbub Khan, Aminur Rahman, Nazim Uddin, Foysal Mahmud, Rafiqul Islam, Shakil Mia, Tanvir Hasan, Rony Muhammad, Rahim Sarkar, Kamal Uddin, Rubel Hossain, Nahid Hasan, Kazi Ibrahim and Arif Shahrier. At least 12 people were hurt as BCL members "swooped" on a rally brought out by COP inside the Dhaka University campus on October 7 in memory of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) student Abrar Fahad. Police detained 24 students, including 22 Bangladesh Chhatra Odhikar Parishad activists, from in front of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital following the clash. Later, the students were shown arrested after a BCL activist lodged a complaint with Shahbagh Police accusing the Chhatra Odhikar Parishad activists of creating unrest and attacking BCL members. Abrar, a second-year student of electrical and electronic engineering at Buet died on October 7, 2019, after he was mercilessly beaten up by the university's Chhatra League members over his Facebook post criticising the Bangladesh government's deals with India. END/UNB/Corr/MAS/FH/

Police on Tuesday night arrested a fugitive criminal who had been on the run since his conviction in the 2012 Biswajit Das murder case. Imran Hossain Imran, who was sentenced to life in jail in the case in 2013, was nabbed from a house in Char Bishanpur village of Faridpur's Sadarpur upazila, police said. Acting on a tip-off, a team conducted a raid in the area and arrested Imran around 10.30 pm, said Subrata Goldar, officer-in-charge of the Sadarpur police station. Imran will be produced in the court on Wednesday, the OC said. On December 9, 2012, tailoring shop employee Biswajit was chopped to death by some BCL activists near Bahadur Shah Park in Old Dhaka during the BNP-led alliance's countrywide road blockade programme. On December 18, 2013, a tribunal sentenced eight BCL activists to death and 13 others, including Imran, to life imprisonment in the Biswajit killing case. On August 6, 2017, the High Court upheld the death sentences of Rafiqul Islam Shakil and Rajon Talukder and commuted the capital punishment of four other convicts — Mahfuzur Rahman Nahid, Emdadul Haque Emdad, GM Rasheduzzaman Shawon and Mir Nurul Alam Liman — to life term.

A married young man has been made president of the newly-announced 25-member committee of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) Faridpur unit, alleged a faction of the student front.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday asked Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leaders and activists to build themselves up putting ideology of Bangabandhu in their heart, imbued with patriotism and keeping their organisation's tradition in mind to lead the country in the coming days.

The leaders and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) completed the burial of a garments worker in Shahjadpur upazila as villagers suspected him to have died from coronavirus.   Civil Surgeon Dr Jahidul Islam said the family member brought the body of the garment worker from Mymensingh.   The villagers objected to burying the worker as the family failed to give a clear reason of death.   On information, a team from upazila health department collected the samples of 12 people and sent to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital for coronavirus test, said Ataur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Shahjadpur Police Station.   Later, they permitted the Shahjadpur upazila unit BCL men to take part in the burial process on condition that they stay in home quarantine until the test results come, the OC added.

A student of Rajshahi University (RU) was beaten up, reportedly by two Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists at Shaheed Shamsujjoha Hall on Friday night.