Turmoil after Abrar Murder: Buet academic activities yet to resume

Academic activities at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology are yet to resume even three weeks after Abrar Fahad’s murder.

Term finals of all the departments, scheduled to start on October 20, have been postponed amid the ongoing boycott by the students. 

“At a meeting of the university’s academic council on October 12, we decided to cancel the test schedule taking the students’ demands into account,” Prof Abul Bashar, a member of the academic council told The Daily Star.  

Earlier, students demanding justice for Abrar declared that they would not attend classes or exams until the authorities expelled all the students accused of being involved in the murder. 

The authorities, in a notice issued on October 11, said they would expel the perpetrators after receiving a police probe report. 

Talking to this newspaper, an administrative official of the university yesterday said the university would expel the accused who would be found guilty in the investigation being conducted by the law enforcers.  

Many students are fearing that they might be subjected to a two-month session jam due to the ongoing situation. 

“If we continue to boycott classes and examinations, no one other than us will be the sufferer,” a batch-15 student of Mechanical Engineering department told The Daily Star yesterday, seeking anonymity.  

“We will be missing some upcoming recruitment tests because of the delay [in their graduation],” he said. 

Contacted, Antora Tithi, a spokesperson for the protesting students, said despite their academic loss, they would not sit for examinations until the killers get expelled.  

Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, earlier told this newspaper that charge sheet in the case would be submitted by the first week of November.  

He also said they had found involvement of all the arrestees in the murder. 

ANOTHER SUSPECT ARRESTED

Meanwhile, detectives yesterday arrested another Buet student in the Abrar murder case.

A team of Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested SM Mahmud Setu, in the capital’s Banglamotor area around 7:00pm, Masudur told The Daily Star.

With Setu, a batch-14 student of Chemical Engineering department, a total of 21 accused have so far been arrested in connection with the murder, the DMP official said.

Though his name was not mentioned in the charge sheet, Setu was arrested based on the confessional statements of several arrestees and other relevant evidence, he said.

Abrar, a second year students of Electrical and Electronic Engineering department, was beaten to death by a group of Chattra League men at the university’s Sher-e-Bangla Hall between the night of October 6 and early hours of October 7. 

Abrar’s father filed a murder case against 19 students of the university, mostly BCL leaders, and several other unnamed accused with Chawkbazar Police Station on October 7. 

At least eight accused gave confessional statements narrating horrific descriptions of torturing Abrar to death.