JU student ‘tortured’ by BCL men, complaint filed

A Jahangirnagar University student has alleged that he was tortured physically and mentally by some BCL activists for not being present at the guest room and not attending political programmes on various occasions.

Sakibul Islam Farabi, a student of statistics department and a resident of Bishwakabi Rabindranath Tagore Hall, submitted a written complaint to the Hall Provost today in this regard, seeking justice over the assault, reports our JU correspondent.

The accused are Junaid Hasan Rana of English department, Naimul Islam Sagar of pharmacy, Atiq Shahriar of history, Mohtasim Billah of fine arts, Uthsho and Kabbo of government and politics, Junaid Evan of mathematics, Imran Mirza of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Saikat Islam of physics department.

All of them are JU BCL activists and residents of Bishwakabi Rabindranath Tagore Hall.

In the written complaint, Sakibul Islam wrote, "Thursday, around 2:00am, seniors from the 48th batch of the President Block asked some students of the 49th batch to go to Room 219.

"There, they assaulted them physically and mentally. They made my friends squat, holding ears. Then, they also called me and asked me about various things, such as why do I not participate in political programmes and why I am not present at the guestroom. When I mentioned the reasons, they got angry, beat me physically, and asked me to leave the hall."

"When I refused to leave the hall, they again started to beat me. My friends brought me to another room," he added.

A student from the same hall said, "The victim was called to the room around 2:00am. I saw some students beating him in front of Room 219. Atiq, Rana, and others beat him severely."

Junaid Hasan Rana, one of the accused named in the complaint, said, "Nothing like that happened. That student [Sakibul] is an addict. He instructed one of his friends to leave the room. We are seniors, so we called him and asked for the reason."

Asked about the matter, JU BCL President Aktaruzzaman Sohel said, "Chhatra League always follows zero-tolerance policy against ragging. After investigation, organisational action will be taken based on evidence."

Professor Nazmul Hasan Talukder, provost of Rabindranath Tagore Hall, said, "That night the student called me around 5:30am. I asked him to meet me in the morning. I received a written complaint today. We will investigate the incident and take action accordingly."