All in the name of ‘etiquette’

Members of Chhatra League at Jahangirnagar University have been accused of verbally abusing freshers.

A video of the incident has been obtained by The Daily Star.

In the video filmed yesterday at 12:30am, seven to eight senior students were seen hurling abusive comments towards freshers in the name of "teaching etiquette" in the guest room of the university's Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall.

Requesting anonymity, a student told this correspondent that if one wants to stay in the dormitories, they have to tolerate abuses from BCL members.

"I automatically assumed that in the future I have to get used to listening to such vulgar words," he added.

Several victims of the incident identified the accused BCL activists as students of marketing, international relations, English, public health and informatics, and urban and regional planning departments.

All of them are from the 49th batch and residents of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall.

Contacted, Zayed, one of the BCL activists present at the guest room during the incident, told this correspondent, "The juniors committed an untoward incident on campus on Sunday. That's why we called them."

When asked, he did not explain about the "untoward incident" committed by the juniors.

"Besides, there is a hall tournament coming up, so we called them to provide instruction," he added.

Meanwhile, Habibur Rahman Litton, general secretary of BCL's JU chapter, told The Daily Star, "I was sleeping at the time of the incident. I will look into the matter."

When asked about the incident yesterday afternoon, hall Provost Prof Israfil Ahmed told this correspondent, "There were two calls at night. I guessed something was wrong. When I later called the hall office, they did not say anything. I got to know of the incident from you."

"I will investigate the matter," he added.

JU Proctor ASM Firoz-ul-Hasan said, "I will speak to the provost of the hall. If the allegations are found true, action will be taken as per the disciplinary rules of the university."

JU VC Prof Nurul Alam told this correspondent that he did not receive any complaint in this regard.

The VC also called the hall provost and told him to form an investigation committee in this regard and take action as soon as possible.

"The matter will be investigated and legal action will be taken," he said.