‘BCL torture on students’: RU teacher holds hunger strike

A Rajshahi University teacher observed a seven-hour hunger strike yesterday morning, protesting ongoing "torture of students by Chhatra League leaders and activists" across the country.

Prof Farid Uddin Khan of economics department started the strike around 10:00am in front Zoha Chattor on the campus.

Prof Farid Uddin said, "We saw a rise in such incidents across the country. BCL leaders have been repeatedly torturing students, ousting them from dormitories and extorting money from them. It is clearly a violation of human rights. It can't be accepted."

"As a teacher, I feel it is my moral responsibility to protest against it and stand by the students," he added.

Parents of these students are also in fear, as the authorities failed to ensure congenial environment for their study, he said.

Prof Farid further said it was the responsibility of respective authorities to take action against the BCL leaders responsible for these incidents, but they failed. He urged the administration to take immediate steps to punish those responsible.

The teacher went on the strike two days after a student filed a complaint with the Islamic University in Kushtia accusing two female BCL members of torturing her for staying in a dormitory without informing them.