Tortured CMCH student Sakib would run family with tuition money

Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) student Sakib Hossain who has been beaten up mercilessly by Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) men would run his family with his tuition earnings in the city as his day labourer father had little or no earnings. Sakib, who would bear the expense of his own studies and that of his siblings, is now languishing in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital.

Sakib’s cousin Mizanur Rahman revealed these while talking to Prothom Alo on Saturday afternoon. He said Sakib has no affiliation with any political organisation and would always be studying.

A section BCL men allegedly beat up Sakib, 22, and Zahid Hossain alias Wakil, 22, both students of fourth year of DMCH, from Wednesday night to Thursday evening on allegation that the duo was involved with politics of Islami Chhatra Shibir. Two more students—Abu Raiyat, 21, and Mobasshir Hossain, 22—were also beaten up at the same time and sent home after torture.

Sakib and Wakil both are admitted to ICU of CMCH.

Mizan said Sakib would send Tk 8,000 to 10,000 every month to his father from his earnings from tuition. His parents have broken down after the incident.

Sakib’s younger brother Rakib Hossain, a student of higher secondary at a private college in the city, was found in the hospital on Saturday afternoon.

Rakib said they are from Khudukkhali village under Chanua union parishad in Banshkhali. Sakib is the eldest among five siblings. He bears education expenses of all other siblings.

CMCH sources said some BCL leaders-activists summoned four of their fellow students to a room of  a residential hall on Wednesday night and tortured them. They were released on Thursday evening. Raiyat and Mobasshir went home while Zahid and Sakib went to hospital.

CMCH principal Sahena Akhter said a probe body has been formed over the incident. Action would be taken against the perpetrators after getting the probe report.

She said both the students are stable now.

Sources said BCL has two factions in CMCH. One is adherent to deputy education minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury and the other is former Chattogram city mayor AJM Nasir Uddin. BCL sources said some BCL men of Mohibul’s faction were involved with the torture of the four students.

Asked about the allegation, Avijit Das, the leader of Mohibul’s adherent group, said on Friday that these four students are Shibir men. They were interrogated as these students were doing the politics of the Shibir surreptitiously.

Meanwhile, this correspondent talked to tortured student Wakil’s father Md Farhad Hossain and elder brother Towhid Hossain at CMCH. They said Wakil was a brilliant student all through his student life and he was not involved with any political organization.

Asked what can be the reason of beating Wakil, Farhad Hossain said, “Wakil was active in classroom. He would take part in class and examinations regularly. He had reputation in the class. They might have tortured him out of jealousy.”

Earlier on 30 October 2021, CMCH was shut after two factions of BCL locked into a fierce clash. Mahadi J Akib, an adherent of Mohibul, was critically injured during that clash. After the incident, politics was banned from CMCH.