DU assistant proctor “harasses student for not addressing VC and proctor as sir”

An assistant proctor of Dhaka University allegedly harassed a student and behaved aggressively with a group of students because they did not refer to the vice chancellor and proctor as "sir" during a conversation with him.

A video of the incident has since gone viral on social media. In the video, Professor Mohammed Mahbubur Rahaman of Institute of Education and Research, is seen talking heatedly and pointing fingers at the students.

He also allegedly conducted a search on a student named Armanul Haque of International Relations department after saying that the Armanul is not a student of the university.

Professor Mahbubur Rahaman went in front of the administrative building of the university to check on Hasnat Abdullah, an English department student, who had been observing a hunger strike since Tuesday demanding a stop to mismanagement in official services.

During the conversation, Hasnat said he will break his hunger strike, if the "VC and Proctor '' come and assure to meet all his demands. There were a few other students at the scene as well accompanying Hasnat.

Aggrieved at the way the students allegedly addressed the VC and Proctor, the assistant proctor started yelling at the students and said," There is a limit to tolerance… Who are you? Will the VC come as per your saying? Address the VC and Proctor as sir."

Talking to The Daily Star, Armanul Haque said "We did not address VC and Proctor as sir and that is why the assistant proctor behaved aggressively with us. We did not expect such behaviour from a teacher."

Contacted, Prof Mahbubur said, "I went to see my student and tried to convince him to break the hunger strike. But some of the students misbehaved with me. I protested that."

Meanwhile, Hasnat called off his hunger strike after the DU Vice Chancellor Prof Md Akhtaruzzman assured him to take measures to end mismanagement in official services and fulfill his other demands.

Around 2:30pm DU VC Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman came and assured the student to fulfill his demands. After breaking the hunger strike, a group of students took Hasnat to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and he is now undergoing treatment there.

Hasnat started his sit-in programme on August 30 to press home his eight-point demands including forming a complaint cell for ensuring accountability of administrative officials and stopping harassment of students; digitalisation of all administrative activities within a short time; setting up CCTV cameras in all offices for ensuring safety.