Chittagong University: BCL man beats up visually impaired student

A visually impaired student of Chittagong University was beaten up by a Chhatra League activist on Sunday night over a trivial matter.

Shukkur Alam, a third-year student of philosophy, came under attack from BCL activist Morshedul Alam Rifat, an honour’s student of management, over allegedly elbowing the latter at a shop outside Suhrawardy Hall, said witnesses.

Protesting the incident, students under the banner of Disable Students Society of Chittagong University staged a demonstration in front of the dormitory that night demanding the university authorities bring Morshedul to book.

They called off their protest around 11:00pm after receiving assurance from the CU authorities of taking action against the assaulter.

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Shukkur said Morshedul picked a quarrel with him around 8:30pm on Sunday when he went to the shop to buy bread.

The BCL man asked the victim why he elbowed him. At one stage, he started beating up Shukkur indiscriminately.

“I told him that I am visually impaired and I had a surgery on my left eye about eight months ago. I apologised to him for any unintentional inconvenience caused, but he didn’t stop beating me. He punched me in my eyes too,” the victim said.

The assaulter soon left the spot, leaving Shukkur injured. Some fellow students took him to the CU medical centre.

Dr Subhasish Chowdhury of the medical centre said they gave primary treatment to Shukkur and advised him to go to Chattogram Medical College Hospital for examining his eyes.

The victim, who uses a cane to move from one place to another, lodged a written complaint with the CU proctor’s office yesterday, seeking justice.

Despite repeated attempts, this correspondent could not reach Morshedul over phone for comments.

Rejaul Haque Rubel, president of CU Chhatra League, said they told the university authorities to bring the accused to justice as early as possible.

Terming the attack inhuman, CU acting proctor Pranab Mitra Chowdhury said they issued a show-cause notice to Morshedul yesterday and asked him to give an explanation about the incident within three working days.

If his explanation is not found satisfactory, he will be expelled from the university, the acting proctor added.

He said they have also asked Hathazari police to detain the accused.

Alhaz Uddin, president of Disable Students Society of Chittagong University, said despite having enough evidence, the university authorities were delaying taking steps against the accused. He said they would go for a tougher movement if the accused was not detained within three days.