Rickshawpullers and sex workers gather in areas around the Suhrawardy Udyan, Mausoleum of Three National Leaders, Central Shaheed Minar, Shamsunnahar Hall and roads beside Teacher-Student Centre (TSC) and Fuller Road under the cover of dark.

With the closure of the two main brothels, Kandupatti and Tanbazar, in (when) sex workers were left with no choice but to find a way to continue their occupation and the big and widespread DU campus area seemed the safest place to work.

"I had no choice after the closure of Tanbazar brothel. I came here and went back to my old profession along with some of my friends," Najma said. "Police and local vagabonds loot the major portion of our income here," she added.

Mohammad Akter, owner of a makeshift teashop in the TSC area, said: "Rickshawpullers are the main customers. Police take a fair amount as bribes. The patrol police usually overlook these incidents."

"I live in this city without my family, and this is the only way I can fulfill my desires," Jahangir Mia, a ricksha-wpuller, said rather shyly.

"We are doing our very best to protect the area. We have requested the police to clean the area from such activities, said Proctor of DU, Prof. A K Firoz.

Students sometimes take the law unto their own hands and beat up the people involved, trying to drive them away from the university area.

"We expect a solution to this problem quickly," said Devashish Saha, a student of Soil, Water and Environmental Science.

"These activities take place from one spot to another. We oust them from one place, they settle down in another," said Alam, a night guard of the DU Arts Building. "It is tough to ensure security of this vast area from such antisocial activities."