Two journos assaulted by JU BCL men

Chhatra League leaders and activists of Jahangirnagar University's Mir Mosharraf Hossain Hall unit yesterday staged a "showdown" at the campus and attacked two journalists.

According to campus sources, the incident happened when the BCL men were preparing to launch an attack on a group of students of Bishwakabi Rabindranath Tagore Hall, reports our JU correspondent.

The BCL leaders claimed that the group of students beat Ahmed Ghalib, a JU BCL leader and a resident student of Mir Mosharraf Hossain Hall, in Battala on Wednesday evening.

Several eyewitnesses told this correspondent that they had seen the BCL men patrolling the campus with locally-made weapons such as rods, sharp-objects, sticks.

However, an argument ensued when they were stopped by the members of the university proctorial body at Battala around 7:30pm.

At one point, BCL leaders attacked the two journalists working at the campus.

According to a written complaint filed to the university's proctor last night by one of the victims, JU BCL Joint Secretary Lenin Mahbub, Vice President Hasan Mahmud Farid, Abul Kalam Ajad and Abdullah Al Faruk Imran instigated others to attack the journalists.

He also said, "I was targeted and attacked because I wrote a report on 'guest room torture' of that hall in the morning. Seniors [leaders] fuelled the attack. I'm yet to identify the attackers."

Aktaruzzaman Sohel, president of the JU BCL told reporters that he was outside the campus when the incident took place.

"Organisational action will be taken if we find proof that anyone from Chhatra League was bearing weapons … We will give all possible support to the university administration in removing these weapons from the hall."

Regarding domestic weapons, Mir Mosharraf Hossain Hall Provost Professor M Obaidur Rahman said, "There should be no weapons at university dorms."

The university proctor ASM Firoz-ul-Hasan said, "Today's incident was unexpected. We monitor such incidents closely and take appropriate action after investigation. In this case, the same will be done. All complaints will be investigated."