JnU teachers, students scuffle

A half-hour long scuffle between teachers and students of Jagannath University (JnU) took place on the campus in the capital yesterday, the second day of agitation of the students demanding cancellation of development fees of Tk 5,000 for first year hounor's admission.
After the incidents, the teachers at a press conference announced the formation of a human chain and wear black badges today for condemning and protesting the incident. They also alleged that the students assaulted them physically.
Witnesses said the activists of Progotishil Chhatra Jote, a platform of Chhatra Front, Chhatra Federation, Chhatra Moitri and Chhatra Union, locked the gate of the university bank since the morning barring the students, who got chances in the admission from their admission process.
According to witnesses, the scuffle took place at around 11:45pm when around 30 teachers went to break open the lock in the presence of the law enforcers. However, around 12:15pm, the teachers broke the lock open.
Deans of different faculties, chairmen of different departments and the members of the proctorial body went together to break open the lock.
JnU Proctor Dr Kamaluddin told The Daily Star, "We approached them with flexibility but they would not listen to us, rather they assaulted the teachers leaving one of the teachers severely injured."
"The lock has been broken to ensure that the admission process continues," he added.
But students of Chhatra Jote pressed on with their protest in front of the bank after the lock was broken.
Several students alleged that the university authorities tried to foil their demonstrations with police assistance. They also said they would go on with their protests until the authorities acceded to their demands.
But OC of Kotwali Police Station Salauddin Khan refuted the allegation and said they did not play any role in this regard yesterday.
Meanwhile, at a press conference on the campus, JnU Vice Chancellor Dr Mezbahuddin Ahmed said, “All teachers will wear black badges tomorrow (Thursday) protesting the assault by students and form a human chain in front of the Shaheed Minar at 10:00am."