People from all walks of life on Thursday expressed serious anger over the lynching of two people, including a student, on the campuses of two premier public universities.
Strongly condemning the acts of lynching, people said that they would not expect such barbaric acts from the students of the two top universities.
Netizens also made strong reactions as both the tragic incidents went viral.
Students of the two varsities also held rallies and demanded punishment to the killers.
Some students of Dhaka University lynched Tofazzal Hossain (35), who is also said to be mentally unstable, after being suspected as a thief at the Fazlul Haque Muslim Hall.
In another incident, students of Jahangirnagar University also lynched Shamim Ahmed, a 39th batch history student of the university and former organising secretary of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League.
Law Affairs Adviser Asif Nazrul on Thursday said no extrajudicial killings would be accepted in the
country, noting that the incidents of mob justice shocked them all. He said the government would take every possible step to stop such incidents.
Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (Retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury condemned the violence, stating that none has the right to take the law into their own hands.
Over the lynching of Tofazzal, five students of Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall of DU have been detained for interrogation.
“The university's proctorial team detained the five from their halls and handed them over to Shahbagh Police Station”, DU Proctor Professor Saifuddin Ahmed said.
“The suspects were primarily identified by scrutinizing CCTV footage of the hall and adjacent areas,” he added.
The detainees identified as Jalal Amhed, former deputy secretary of science and technology affairs of Bangladesh Chhatra League's FH unit also a student of physics department, Al Hossain Sazzad of geography department and Sumon Mia of soil, water and environment department and Muttakin Sakin of Institute of Nutrition and Food Science (INFS) and Ahsanullah.
Earlier, the university administration also filed a murder case with the Police Station over the death, said OC of the police station Shahabuddin Shaheen, adding, “Mohammad Amanullah, a supervisor at the university's estate office, filed the case as plaintiff”.
The Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall administration in the morning formed a seven-member investigation committee over the incident asking to submit their report by this evening, said the proctor adding, “However, later the committee was given time till tomorrow morning to submit their report so that they can bring out more information”.
The university proctorial team on Wednesday night took Tofazzal to the police station after students assaulted him at the hall after being suspected of being a thief, said FH hall's provost Prof Shah Md Masum.
He was later taken to a hospital, where the doctors declared him dead around 12:45am, he added.
In a separate incident on Wednesday afternoon, Shamim Ahmed, alias Shamim Molla, was severely beaten up on JU campus. He later died at a private hospital in Savar on early Thursday.
Allegations were rife that Shamim was assaulted by the members of the Chhatra Dal, the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Besides, Shamim was accused of assaulting students at the VC's residence on the night of July 15, according to JU students.
Source said Shamim Mollah was allegedly taken away from the university's Prantik Gate by Labib and Siam, members of anti-discrimination student movement.
Beating twice, they handed him over to the proctor's office. Witnesses said that former JU Chhatra Dal secretary Saeed (33 batch, Economics) along with Raju (45 batch), Shaheed Salam Barkat, and others lynched him.
Terming the incident as a shocking one, JU authorities said that they formed an investigation committee to look into the barbaric incident.
In a press release signed by Dr. Mohammad Mohiuddin (Acting Director of the Public Relations Department), of JU pledged to bring those responsible to book.
In a prompt action, the anti-discrimination student movement JU unit dismissed Ahsan Labib from the body for his alleged involvement in Shamim's murder. They also demanded a fair trial of the killing.
Anti-Discrimination Student Movement Coordinator Hasnat Abdullah said that lynching is never justified and called for swift justice for those involved in both recent incidents.
Strongly condemning the two incidents, Shaykh Ahmadullah, the head of the As-Sunnah Foundation, on a social media post said “A mentally unstable person was beaten to death on suspicion of being a thief. You cannot even kill anyone.”
"The so-called students of the nation's top university were responsible for these horrible incidents. It is not acceptable in any manner. Whoever the culprits are, I want everyone responsible for this brutality to be awarded exemplary punishment,” he said.
Dr Azharul Islam, DU Associate Professor and Chairman of the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, told the Bangladesh Post that students, following the suspension of the classes, are currently experiencing collective trauma related to the recent movement and the July student killing.
Recent events, such as the planning of a Kawali music programme and mass marriages, suggest that they are clearly in a mental disorder-related problem here. “I think the situation will improve after two or three months,” he hopes.
According to a source at the DU VC office, some measures have already been taken to avert any untoward incident on the campus.
If any unexpected incident takes place on the campus, some negative impacts put on the minds of the students, parents and teachers.
The measures include stepping up patrols of the perimeter around campus and having hall staff check IDs before students enter the building.
24 political leaders and activists have been killed in the last month
Amid the rise of the political tension, fierce clashes between the BNP and AL activists took places across the country, resulting in the death of at least 24 people in last 30 days.
Of the deceased, 13 have been identified as BNP men and 11 as AL men.
