BUET VC faces public wrath at Abrar’s village
Agitated people barred Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) vice chancellor professor Saiful Islam from meeting the family of murdered student Abrar Fahad at Raidanga village in Kumarkhali upazila, Kushtia on Wednesday.
The BUET VC set out for Kushtia from Dhaka in the morning to offer fateha at the grave of Abrar, who was beaten to death reportedly by some Bangladesh Chhatra League leaders, at a dormitory of the university and convey his sympathy to the bereaved family members, reports UNB.
He along with deputy commissioner Aslam Hossain and superintendent of police in the district SM Tanvir Arafat reached the village around 4:30pm, met Abrar’s father Barkatullah and offered fateha at Abrar’s grave.
As the news spread around, angry locals gathered in front of Abrar’s house and chanted slogans against the VC, who met protesting BUET students on the campus around 40 hours of the murder of Abrar, and demanded justice.
They obstructed professor Saiful when he tried to enter the home to meet the bereaved family members.
Amid the resistance, the VC finally stepped back without meeting the family members.
After the VC’s departure, police charged baton on the agitating locals to disperse them, injuring four people, including Abrar’s younger brother Abrar Faiyaz, a college student.
Abrar, 21, was found dead on the staircase of Sher-e-Bangla Hall of the university early Monday after some BCL leaders beat him at room no. 2011 of the dormitory on Sunday night suspecting his link with Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
Meanwhile, a commemorating meeting on the slain BUET student was held at Kushtia Zilla School from where he passed his Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination. Huge number of people attended the programme.
Speaking at the event, Abrar’s father Barkatullah expressed dissatisfaction at the role of the BUET authorities over his son’s murder.
He also alleged that the names of most of those captured on the CCTV footage were dropped from the case. “The boy who led the torture was not made accused in the case.”