CU student 'assaulted' in bus, case filed

A female student of Chittagong University was reportedly assaulted on a moving bus by the driver's helper while she was returning to the city from the campus on Thursday.

She said she jumped off the moving bus to save herself. The CU student filed a case with Kotwali Police Station yesterday, accusing two unidentified transport workers in this regard.

She posted a status on Facebook on Thursday night describing the incident, which later went viral.

On that day, the 19-year-old got on a crowded bus around 3pm 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 added.

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

“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.

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.

Mohammad Mohsin, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station, said they have already started their investigation.

“Three teams of police are working to arrest the duo,” he said, adding that they are trying to obtain CCTV footage to identify the culprits.

Monjurul Alam, president of Chattogram Sarak Paribahan Malik Samity, said they could not take any step against the accused as the workers are not members of their organisation. 

“Such incidents are occurring as the number of illegal transport vehicles has increased on this route while police turn a blind eye to address this matter,” he claimed.

“We have already filed a complaint to the police commissioner and the BRTA chairman on April 11 against those illegal vehicles,” he added.