'Tortured' by BCL leaders: IU student returns to campus to testify

A female student of Islamic University in Kushtia, who was allegedly tortured on campus on February 12, has been brought back to the university today under heavy security as per the High Court's directive.

A police van carrying the student arrived on the campus around 12:30pm. She was taken directly to the Deshratno Sheikh Hasina Hall to testify in front of the enquiry committee appointed by the university, reports our Kushtia correspondent.

Annur Zaid, officer-in-charge of Islamic University Police Station, said forces have been deployed on the campus for the student's security.

According to university sources, the victim, who is a non-residential student of the institution, was assaulted by two female BCL leaders.

Following the incident, the girl submitted a written complaint to the hall's provost.

According to the complaint, the victim went to stay with a residential student in the hall on February 8 as she did not have any seats. On February 12, the girl was tortured and harassed by Sanjida Chowdhury, vice president of IU unit BCL, and Tabassum Islam, a BCL activist, for four hours, who threatened to kill her if she shared the incident with anyone.

A writ petition was also filed by Gazi Mohammad Mohsin, an alumnus of the university and a lawyer, with the HC on Thursday.

The HC ordered the accused to leave the hall and the university to look into the matter seriously, and submit a report in this regard within the next 10 days.

Alongside the committee appointed by the university, the HC also asked the deputy commissioner of the district to form a separate committee to further enquire into the incident, and submit a report in the next seven days.

The girl had started testifying to the committees during the filing of this report at 2:00pm.