5 JU BCL men suspended

The Jahangirnagar University (JU) authorities suspended five Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists, including two leaders, on Friday night for beating up two campus reporters in separate incidents.

The decision was made at a special syndicate meeting with Vice-Chancellor Prof Farzana Islam in the chair on the basis of two probe reports, confirmed JU Registrar Abu Bakr Siddique.

Religious affairs secretary of JU BCL and history student Mohitosh Roy Tito and anthropology student Hossain Laskar have been suspended for two years while assistant secretary of JU BCL and marketing student Ikram Uddin Omi and statistics student Iqram Nahid for six months, and Riyajul Islam of Bangla department have been suspended for four months and fined Tk 5,000.

The authorities also declared the BCL men, except for Riyajul, unwanted on the campus during their suspension.

On June 4, some BCL activists led by Laskar beat up Abu Raihan, JU correspondent of an online news portal, over a previous enmity near Bismail area, said campus sources. 

On June 8, some 12 BCL activists led by Tito beat  up Shafiqul Islam, JU correspondent of the online news portal www.bdnews24.com, as he along with other campus journalists rescued a young woman and held her abductor, according to witnesses. The BCL men also took away the abductor identified as Golam Sarwar. Shafiqul is a fourth-year student of the department of Journalism and Media Studies and an assistant general secretary of JU unit Students Union.

Yesterday, the authorities gave a written complaint to Baizid Islam, a final-year botany student, for being involved in the June 4 incident. On the other hand, JU unit Students Union in a press release criticised the punishment as only two BCL men, Laskar and Riyajul, out of 12 BCL, were punished for the June 8 incident.