The authorities of Islamic University in Kushtia on Saturday suspended five of its students including the university unit Bangladesh Chhatra League vice-president Shanjida Chowdhury Ontora of statistics department, for their involvement in torturing and humiliating a fresher of Finance and Banking department at Deshratna Shiekh Hasina hall.
The decision was taken at the emergency meeting of the university’s disciplinary committee held on the campus with vice-chancellor Professor Shaikh Abdus Salam in the chair at around 1:00pm. The four other suspended students are BCL unit activists’ Tabassum Islam and Maobiya Jahan of the Finance and Banking department, Halima Khatun Urmi of the Fine Arts department, and Israt Jahan Mim of the Law department of the university. The students were suspended following the High Court order, IU proctor Professor M Shahadat Hossain Azad said.
IU pro-vice-chancellor Professor M Mahbubur Rahman, treasurer Professor M Alamgir Hossain Bhuiya, proctor Professor M Shahadat Hossain Azad, students adviser Professor Shelina Nasrin, acting registrar HM Ali Hasan and among others were present in the meeting.
A group of BCL activists led by Ontora and her cohorts including Tabassum went to the victim’s room and reportedly assaulted and tortured her at the Sheikh Hasina Hall on February 12 night.
At one stage, Ontora forced the victim to get undressed and filmed the incident on her mobile phone and threatened the victim to viral the video on social media if the victim disclosed the matter to anyone.
The victim lodged a written complaint with the university administration, including the university proctor, student adviser and the hall provost, demanding punishment of those involved in the incident on February 14.
Two probe bodies were formed by the Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall administration and the university authorities respectively on February 14, 15. On February 26, the probe bodies submitted their reports to the university administration.
The hall authorities expelled the accused from the hall permanently as they found their involvement in the incident on February 27. A writ petition was also filed by Gazi Mohammad Mohsin, an alumnus of the university and a lawyer, with the High Court.
The High Court on Wednesday ordered the Islamic University authorities to suspend its five female students who were found involved in the torture and humiliation of the first-year student.
The HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil passed the order.
The court also asked the university authorities to remove the provost from the dormitory.
