Bus driver remanded for assaulting CU student

A Chattogram court today placed a bus driver on a three-day remand in a case filed over assaulting a female student of Chittagong University when she was returning to the city from the campus on Thursday.

Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate Sarwar Jahan passed the order after the driver, Biplob Debnath, was placed before the court with a seven-day remand prayer, said Assistant Commissioner (Prosecution) Kazi Shahbuddin Ahmed.

Earlier today, Biplob was captured from Oxygen intersection of the port city around 1:00am following a tip-off from Bangladesh Bus Owners Association, Mohammad Mohsin, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station, told our CU correspondent.

"We are trying to arrest the helper of the bus who also associated the driver during the assault," he added.

WHAT HAPPENED ON THE BUS?

The 19-year-old student got on a crowded bus around 3:00pm on Thursday at Gate No-1 of the university to go to New Market in the port city.

When the bus reached near Riazuddin Bazar, all the passengers got off the vehicle but she did not as it was her penultimate stoppage, she said. Taking the advantage of an empty bus, the driver turned right and deviated from  the route.

She told them to stop immediately, but to no avail. The helper tried to strangle her with her scarf.

“In a moment of shock, I couldn't even scream for help. All I could do was hit him with my mobile phone forcing them to let me go. Later, I jumped off the moving bus and somehow managed to reach my home with the help of a rickshaw-puller,” she wrote in her Facebook post following the incident.

The student also lodged a verbal complaint with CU Proctor Ali Asgar Chowdhury who said they will provide all necessary support to bring the accused to book.