BCL forces two students out of SUST hall

Ruling Awami League-backed Bangladesh Chhatra League activists allegedly forced two inmates out of a dormitory of the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology early Thursday.

The victims alleged that the attackers have beaten them and snatched their money.

One of the victims, Saiquat Roy, a third-year student of petroleum and mining engineering department, submitted a written complaint to the Syed Muztaba Ali Hall provost on Thursday afternoon, residents of the hall said.

Saiquat alleged that a group of about 15 BCL activists, led by Azizul Islam Simanta, a Masters’ student of the English department and former secretary of the BCL unit of the same department, entered the room 420 of the Syed Muztaba Ali Hall at around 12:00am.

The BCL men at that moment started beating Saiquat’s roommate Mehedi Hasan indiscriminately, after closing the door of the room and they also attacked Saiquat as he tried to resist them from beating Mehedi, also a third-year PME student.

He alleged that the BCL activists scolded Saiquat and Mehedi and snatched Tk 3,500 from the drawer of Saiquat’s reading table.

Later, the BCL men forced the two inmates out of their room after threatening not to lodge any complaint or share the matter with anybody else, the victims alleged.

Saiquat mentioned in his written complaint that he was forced out of his room earlier on April 6 and he had returned later to his legal seat of the hall following an intervention by the university authorities.

When contacted, Syed Muztaba Ali Hall provost Md Abu Sayeed Arfin Khan confirmed New Age about filing a complain by Saiquat.

He, however, said that several students also have submitted another application against Saiquat and Mehedi.

‘The university administration constituted a three-member committee to probe into the allegations,’ the provost said, adding that step would be taken against them who would be found guilty in the investigation.

Talking to New Age, several students said that the university’s pro-vice-chancellor Kabir Hossain had criticised hardly the USA for its imposing sanction against Bangladesh. He made the comments while he was addressing a programme on the campus on August 15.

Later, Mehedi had posted a status on his facebook timeline saying ‘Many people make hard remarks against USA while their sons are studying in that country,’ the students said seeking anonymity.

They informed that the BCL activists attacked Mehedi as the son of the SUST pro-VC is studying in the USA at present.