University Teachers’ Network demands exemplary punishment for ‘gang-rape’ threat to student petitioner
The University Teachers’ Network has demanded exemplary punishment for the student who threatened to gang-rape a female student who had filed a writ petition with the High Court regarding the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) election.
The demand was made at a press conference held by the Teachers’ Network in front of Madhur Canteen around 11:30 am today, Tuesday.
The platform also presented 13 demands to the Dhaka University administration concerning the DUCSU election.
The written statement at the press conference was read out by Dhaka University teachers Tahmina Akhter and Moshahida Sultana.
The statement said, “It has been learned that following a candidate’s writ petition in the High Court, a student of the Sociology Department issued a threat via a Facebook post to gang-rape the female candidate. The accused, Ali Husen, must be given exemplary punishment through due process to ensure that such incidents are not repeated.”
The statement further added, “Since no clear mention exists of what specific punishments apply to which offenses, the code of conduct is being violated indiscriminately. Even when complaints are lodged, the commission is failing to take appropriate action.”
Among the other demands of the University Teachers’ Network were, ensuring a sufficient number of polling booths in proportion to the total number of voters; extending voting hours until 5:00 pm; making the vote-counting process effective and transparent by holding discussions with representatives of all concerned parties; ensuring that decisions on the code of conduct and its violations are made through a transparent process and are not discriminatory toward any group; preventing discrimination in assigning duties to teachers, officers, and staff during the election; taking steps to stop cyberbullying, especially targeting teachers and students with offensive posts and comments on certain pages and groups; arranging additional buses and trips, as needed, so that non-residential students can safely travel to campus to vote; ensuring that journalists and social media news collectors adhere to the code of conduct; and referring any case of sexual harassment directly to the university’s Anti-Sexual Harassment Cell for resolution.
The Teachers’ Network also stated that just as they monitored the 2019 DUCSU election, they would again play an independent and neutral observer role in the upcoming election.
Also present at the press conference were Dhaka University professors Gitiara Nasreen, Samina Luthfa, Kamrul Hasan Mamun, and Asif Mohammad Shahan, among others.