BCL men 'assault' JU hall provost

The authorities concerned of Jahangirnagar University (JU) formed a three-member probe body to investigate the incident of an assault on Mir Mosharraf Hossain Hall's (MMH) provost allegedly by some activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, a pro-ruling Awami League student organisation, at the dormitory on Friday.

Meanwhile, the university proctor office submitted its primary investigation report to the probe body with the hall administration on Saturday, urging the university authorities to look into the incident. 

"The probe committee, headed by Prof Abu Dayen of Bangla department, was asked to submit its report within the next 7 workdays, and further decisions will be taken at the disciplinary body's meeting chaired by Vice-Chancellor Prof Farzana Islam," said Proctor Prof Tapan Kumar Saha.

Dayen said he received the university's resolution from the VC office on Tuesday in this regard, and hoped to be able to submit the probe report on 24 March.

On 11 March, BCL activists were at a "gono room", teaching "hall culture" to the freshers around 10:00pm. They got fed up with the hall's Provost Prof Obaidur Rahman going there to oversee the freshers, and started hurling abuse at him, said students who were present there.

At one stage, they forcibly drove him out of the room, according to the witnesses and an audio record containing their derogatory comments on the provost.

According to the witnesses, BCL leaders who were allegedly involved in the incident include religious affairs secretary of BCL's JU unit Mohitosh Ray Titu of history, deputy social welfare secretary Bashir Ul Haque of statistics, joint-secretary Ekram Uddin Omi, and 30 to 35 activists including  Shamim Shikdar of International Relations, Asad Rimon of history, Robiul Islam of urban and regional planning (URP), Ajim Hossain Raton of URP, and Anik Adnan Sommo of geological sciences.

As per the campus sources, a number of allegations, including assault on journalists and general students and drugs taking on the campus, were earlier reported to the proctor office against Titu, who is illegally residing at MMH Hall while he was allotted to Rafiq Jabbar Hall.

Contacted, Mahmudur Rahman Jony, president of BCL's JU unit and vice-president of BCL central committee, said, "We are looking into the matter and talking to the provost and the BCL men involved," adding that steps would be taken according to the probe report.