3 DU journos say BCL men assaulted them
Three journalists of Dhaka University were allegedly assaulted by a group of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) on Saturday night.
BCL men of Sher-e-Bangla Hall unit of Buet -- including former deputy office secretary Asif Raihan Minar, former science and technology affairs secretary SM Mahmud Shetu, former joint secretary Nafiul Alam Fuji, former publicity secretary Niladri Niloy Das, former joint general secretary Iftekharul Haque Fahad and former vice-president Santur Rahman -- allegedly confined the journalists to the dorm for nearly an hour and assaulted them.
The victims -- Mehedi Hasan, Kabir Kanon and Muntasir Zihad -- are Dhaka University correspondents of Bangla dailies Kaler Kantho, Ittefaq and Janakantha respectively.
A Buet student and resident of the hall, wishing to be unnamed, said to have witnessed the incident. They affirmed identities of the accused.
The journalists claimed that they went to Sher-e-Bangla Hall as they were informed that a student of Pharmacy department of DU was picked up and being confined to the dorm by some Buet students.
Upon reaching the Sher-e-Bangla Hall, they found the gate locked and were denied access by the guard, who said BCL has restricted access to the hall. Later they introduced themselves and managed to get into the hall, said the journalists.
Soon after the reporters entered the hall, a group of BCL activists appeared and asked why they were there. At one stage, the BCL men snatched wallets, ID cards and mobile phones of the reporters. They took the trio to sports room and beat them up for half an hour, the three reporters said.
They were released an hour later as top brass of BCL and members of Dhaka University Journalists Association (Duja) intervened to rescue them.
“We went there [to the Buet hall] to verify whether a DU student was picked up or not, because no one could give us authentic information about it,” Mehedi Hasan of Kaler Kantho told The Daily Star.
“The BCL men assaulted and harassed us even after we introduced ourselves to them,” he added.
Meanwhile, Duja yesterday released a press statement in this regard, seeking organisational action from the Buet unit of BCL against those involved in the incident within 24 hours.
Contacted, Buet BCL President Jami US Sani denied of anyone being assaulted inside the hall.
Some students misbehaved with the journalists because of a “misunderstanding” between the two groups, he claimed.