Editorial
Errant BCL elements
Expulsion goes down as eyewash
Bangladesh Chhatra League's (BCL) decision to expel 11 of its members for rent-seeking and assault on journalists does not go far enough in righting the wrongs. Considering the nature of the offences, the errant boys deserve much more than a mere disciplinary action from the student organisation's central body. We have seen such expulsions before, but in spite of these the misdeeds have continued.
Those elements of the ruling party's student body were found extracting money from travellers in the morning of the Bangla New Year. When some journalists asked them what were they doing, they flew into a rage and attacked and manhandled the journalists. Actually, what those boys passing for student activists were engaged in was nothing but hooliganism. Such thuggery being a criminal offence, they should have been handed over to the law enforcers and made to face justice according to the law of the land.
It is also not for first time that the wayward BCL activists have been found involved in such types of misdeeds; for they have a track record of committing campus violence, tender manipulation, indulging in admission trade and so on. As recently as in December 2012, some of their members were arrested for cruelly beating to death a youth named Biswajit of old Dhaka during an opposition-enforced road blockade.
In this paper, we have consistently condemned the violent and criminal acts of the wayward activists of this student organisation, and requested Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to rein in their rowdy elements. At a stage, even the prime minister admonished them for their violent behaviour and advised them to return to their studies, but with little effect.
But the latest incident has again demonstrated that they have hardly changed their ways. And their activities have tarnished the image of the incumbent government.
We have been repeatedly urging the government to make those elements face criminal prosecution but nothing of that sort was meted out to them. This amounted to giving them indulgence and a sense of impunity to carry on with their nefarious activities unchallenged.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments