BCL men phone parents after grilling student overnight over political ties

Two leaders of Chhatra League (BCL) have allegedly interrogated a student of Dhaka University (DU) and tortured him mentally for three hours at midnight for his involvement with Chhatra Federation instead of Chhatra League.

The victim, Samir Sadiq, is a third-year student of DU Public Administration Department and a member of the convening committee of the Dhaka University Chhatra Federation, reports our DU correspondent quoting the victim.

In the middle of the night, they (BCL men) phoned the student's father, asked him to come to the DU campus and take his son away, the victim told this correspondent.

The incident took place at Room No 223 of Muktijoddha Ziaur Rahman Hall of the university from 1am to 4am today (October 25, 2022).

Meanwhile, the student today (October 25, 2022) lodged a written complaint to the hall provost against Ziaur Rahman Hall unit BCL Vice-President Ahmadullah Ashraf and its Library Affairs Secretary Rezvi Hasan.

In the complaint, Samir said, "Ahmadullah Ashraf (17-18th session) and Rezvi Hasan (17-18th session) started questioning and torturing me mentally in my room (223) at 1 am yesterday after they found books related on constitution of Chhatra Federation and other books. They even phoned my parents and asked them to take me away, otherwise they threatened to beat me and get me out of the hall. In this situation, they (my parents) came to Dhaka this morning."

Denying the allegations, Ahmadullah Ashraf told The Daily Star, "I have nothing to do with the incident. I didn't tell Samir's family about it. The others in the room may have said it. We are involved in the politics of Chhatra League. That's why a complaint has been filed against us. I wanted to know Samir's political liaison by looking at his Chhatra Federation book. There was no mistreatment of him."

However, there was no comment from Rezvi Hasan in this regard.

Samir's father, Emtasur Rahman, told The Daily Star, "Around 1:45am, a person named Ahmed Ullah called me and said your son is part of a banned organisation. A book was found with him. The hall's political seniors (boro bhais) will hand him over to the police after beating him if they find out if it's true. He quickly told me to come to the campus and take my son away."

Ziaur Rahman Hall Provost Mohammad Bellal Hossain told this correspondent that they got a written complaint in this regard. "Steps will be taken after investigation."