JU Vandalism Case: 12 female students talk of 'ordeal' in custody

In eight hours since 12:30am on Sunday, male police members of Dhamrai Police Station "counted" at least 15 times to ensure whether there were 12 female students of Jahangirnagar University in the lock-up, which is tantamount to harassment, several students alleged.

"We were taken to the lock-up of the police station [Dhamrai] from the university campus around 12:30am, and several policemen appeared before the lock-up to count us till 8:00am,” Maliha Mostafa Suchana, a student of finance and banking department of JU, told The Daily Star yesterday. 

Suchana was among the 12 female students who were arrested for protesting the tragic death of their two fellow students in a road accident on the Dhaka-Aricha highway near C&B bus stand area in Savar on Friday.

Dispersed by police action with rubber bullets and teargas shells on Saturday afternoon, agitating students laid siege to the vice-chancellor's residence to know why such an action was taken against them.   

When the syndicate meeting was going on inside the VC's residence around 10:00pm, around 200 policemen entered the campus and surrounded the protesters.

Police then picked up 42 students, including the 12 females, and the detainees were then showed arrested in a vandalism case. 

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, several female students shared the ordeal and harassment they went through.

"It was so ridiculous that policemen started coming in front of the thana [police station] lock-up at regular intervals to count our numbers. The way they came and went was totally irritating and tantamount to harassment,” said Suchana.

"At one stage of their counting, we told the policemen that we are 12 in number. You don't need to count again and again,” she said.

"It also happened that policemen appeared before the lock-up at 4:00am and 5:00am to count us. Was it a part of their duty or to have fun and harass us?” she questioned.

Several other arrested female students echoed the same.

Puja Biswas, of international relations department, said they were kept in a very small room where hardly four to five people could stay.

Another female student said some policemen personally asked for their mobile numbers, saying they would help them out later.

"I could never think that I will have to go through such an experience,” she said, wishing anonymity.

Several female students alleged that police had behaved with them very rudely and even hurled abuse when they were being taken inside a microbus to the police station.

Another female student alleged that she was pushed and slapped by a policeman while getting into the microbus.

The students said police even seized their mobile phones while they were in the microbus. Most of them could not contact their families or friends.

Around 11:00am on Sunday, all female arrestees were taken to Ashulia Police Station from Dhamrai Police Station. They were then produced before a Dhaka court and the court granted them bail.

Contacted, Rezaul Haque, officer-in-charge of Dhamrai Police Station, said the students' allegations were baseless.

“Some of them behaved very roughly with the on-duty officer when he asked for their names and addresses for registration. I couldn't imagine how a university student behaved so badly,” the OC said.