DU student with disabilities alleges assault by 3 JCD leaders at Jagannath Hall

A student with disabilities at the University of Dhaka has accused three leaders of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) at Jagannath Hall of physically assaulting and threatening him over sitting with his legs raised at a tea stall.

Following the allegation, the Dhaka University unit of JCD issued a press release today, saying the three accused leaders had been relieved of their posts.

The accused are Chandan Das, Jhalak Das and Ripon Chandra Sarkar, all joint conveners of the Jagannath Hall unit JCD.

The victim, who resides in a room allocated for students with disabilities at the Jagannath Hall due to complications in both legs, submitted a written complaint to the provost of the dormitory last night.

In his complaint, the student alleged that he had been sitting with his legs raised at a tea stall on the ground floor of the hall because of his physical condition when Jagannath Hall JCD Joint Convener Chandan Das objected.

He further alleged that after returning to his room, four individuals, including three JCD leaders, entered the room and physically assaulted him. He also claimed they threatened him not to visit the tea stall in future.

Contacted over the allegations, accused leader Jhalak Das denied the claims. “These are false allegations. He is doing this under the shelter of Chhatra League,” he said.

Asked why they had gone to his room, Jhalak said, “We went to speak to him. We talked from outside the room and then left.”

Jagannath Hall parliament Vice-President Pallab Barman, elected from a JCD-backed panel, said the victim informed him about the incident afterwards.

Pallab said he checked the hall’s CCTV footage and saw the accused entering the victim's room.

The complaint was forwarded to the provost through the hall parliament so that necessary action could be taken, he added.