Univ Girl Harassed on Bus: 3 Turag Paribahan staff held in the face of student protest

Police yesterday arrested three staffers of a Turag Paribahan bus on the allegation of sexually harassing a private university student in the running bus on her way to campus at Uttara on Saturday.

All the three -- bus driver Roman, 27, conductor Monir, 27, and helper Nayan, 29 -- were arrested from Sayedabad and seized the bus around 4:30pm, said Abu Bakar Siddique, officer-in-charge of Gulshan Police Station.

During primary interrogation, they admitted sexually harassing the Uttara University student, he said.

The arrest came amid protests by her fellow students that started after the news spread on the campus.

The agitating students stopped around 35 buses of Turag Paribahan on different streets in Uttara on Sunday. The passengers were requested to get off and the drivers were asked to park the buses near the university campus, said Parvez Hossain, one of the protesters.

The buses were held back from service as of 9:00pm yesterday in protest at Saturday's incident.

The demonstrations were fully peaceful, added Parvez.

At a press conference in Uttara yesterday, the students demanded the offenders get highest punishment and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority make sure no motor vehicle runs without driving licence and registration and fitness documents so that any errant transport employee can be identified immediately.

Earlier in the day, the students issued an ultimatum to the authorities to track down the culprits by this noon.

Meanwhile, the victim's husband on Sunday afternoon filed a case with the police station. Around 1:00pm Saturday, the girl boarded the bus on Badda Link Road to go to the university, he said in the case statement quoting the victim.

When all the other passengers got off at Natun Bazar stoppage, the helper, conductor and driver started to sexually assault the girl, read the case statement. At one stage, she managed to fend them off and jump off the bus.