Dare not skip ‘guest room meeting’

A first-year mass communication student at Dhaka University was allegedly bullied and mentally tortured by a few seniors in the guest room of Bijoy Ekattor Hall on Wednesday night.

A probe body was formed yesterday by the hall authority after the student submitted a written complaint to the provost's office, as confirmed to this correspondent by Prof Abdul Bashir, provost of Bijoy Ekattor hall.

According to Akhtarul Islam's complaint, he was summoned to the guest room around 10:00pm by five-six second-year students. He was made to stare at a bright light for over 10 minutes.

Akhtarul's alleged ordeal continued till the accused asked him to leave the guest room after he started feeling unwell. He became unconscious upon reaching his dorm room and had to be rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment.

His only fault was that he could not attend the last "guest room meeting" as his father was unwell, he said.

The accused are Kamruzzaman Raju of sociology; Saiful Islam of international relations; Hridoy Ahmed Kajal of history; Yamin Islam of social welfare and research; Saiful Islam Rohan of public administration; and Omar Faruk Shuvo of psychology.

Akhtarul and the witnesses said all of them are BCL activists of the DU unit.

However, Omar Faruk Shuvo denied the allegations and termed the accusations "false and baseless".

Sources said the accused belong to a BCL faction led by its activists Abu Yunus and Rabiul Islam Rana.

"Our organisation doesn't support any such inhuman acts. Strict steps will be taken from our side as soon as possible," Abu Yunus told this correspondent.

Saddam Hussain, general secretary of BCL DU unit, said, "I have been informed of the allegations. If anyone committed this heinous act with our organisation's name, we are bound to take organisational steps against them."

DU students of the 2020-21 academic session yesterday protested the incident and demanded exemplary punishment of the accused, forming a human chain at Raju Memorial.