Don't lend calculator to BCL man!

Ehsan Rafiq

All he asked a BCL man was to return his calculator that the latter borrowed from him around three months back.

But little did he imagine that he would have to face a dire consequence just for asking for the calculator he lent to help a fellow student.

On Tuesday night, a group of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists of Salimullah Muslim Hall unit of Dhaka University (DU) beat up Ehsan Rafiq, a second year student of disaster management and science department, leaving him seriously injured.

“Omar Faruk of marketing department borrowed my calculator around three months back. On Tuesday, when I asked him to return my calculator, he refused to do so and threatened me with dire consequences,” alleged Ehsan.

“Later, the hall unit Vice President Tanim, Joint General Secretary Anim Irtija Shovon and Abu Taher asked me to show up at the dormitory's TV room. Then they snatched my mobile phone terming me a 'Shibir' activist.”

As the BCL men did not find his involvement with "Shibir" after browsing through his Facebook account, they forced him to admit that he was a "Shibir" activist and beat him mercilessly, said Ehsan.

Afterwards, BCL hall unit president Tahsan Ahmed Rasel asked his followers to take Ehsan to the hall playground in name of solving the issue, said Ehsan.

Upon reaching the ground, the BCL activists including BCL hall unit Assistant Secretary Omar Faruk (who borrowed the calculator), Ruhul Amin, Samiul Islam Sami, Ahsan Ullah, Deputy Secretary Mehedi Hasan Himel again beat him up with iron rods and sticks, leaving him severely injured, alleged Ehsan.

The attackers then took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) and told the duty doctors that he got injured in an accident.

Ehsan claimed that summoning all to the hall playground was actually a trick of Tahsan, indirectly instructing his followers to beat Ehsan.

After taking primary treatment at DMCH, when he returned to dorm at around 4:30am yesterday, Tahsan and his followers allegedly confined him to Tahsan' room (No 16) for eight hours so that the incident does not spread.

At one point, when BCL activists in the room went outside keeping the door open, Ehsan leapt at the chance right away and fled the dorm at 2:00pm.

This correspondent tried to reach Omar Faruk over the phone to get his version of the story. But someone else received the phone and said Omar had left the room leaving behind the mobile phone.  

Contacted, Tahsan admitted that there was an incident of beating Ehsan at the dorm's TV room but he denied the allegation of giving instruction to the BCL activists to beat Ehsan at the playground.

Denying the allegation of confinement, he claimed, “I just asked Ehsan to take rest in my room and tried to solve the issue.”

Contacted, central BCL President Saifur Rahman Sohagh said, "We will take organisational steps against those involved in the incident."