House of student leader accused in beating DU student over AL links set on fire

The village home of Md Saifullah, organising secretary of the Dhaka University unit of Jatiya Chhatra Shakti, the student wing of the National Citizen Party (NCP), was set on fire in Dhobaura Upazila of Mymensingh district. The incident took place after 3:00 am early Friday.

The victim’s family has accused activists of the banned Awami League of carrying out the attack.

Saifullah is the son of Ali Hossain of Domgatha village in Baghber Union under Dhobaura upazila. His parents, elder brother Zainal Abedin, as well as his wife and two children live in the family home.

Saifullah told Prothom Alo, “At around 3:10 am, a kitchen at my house was set on fire, and there was an attempt to hack and set the main dwelling on fire. However, the fire in the residential house did not spread and was extinguished.”

When asked who might be responsible, Saifullah said he and his family had long been receiving threats from Bangladesh Chhatra League and Awami League activists.

“They have been threatening us in different ways for quite some time, and the threats had intensified recently. But it is not clear who exactly carried out the attack in the area. There were no direct threats from locals, but some fugitive Awami League activists from the area were issuing threats on Facebook over several recent issues,” he said.

Saifullah alleged that messages sent to him on WhatsApp and Messenger after the incident said, “We set your house on fire. Luckily you weren’t there—your children survived.”

He said he plans to take legal action over the incident.

On 8 March, a student was reportedly beaten at University of Dhaka on allegations of involvement with the banned Bangladesh Chhatra League. The student was later taken to Shahbagh Police Station.

At the time, Saifullah made a Facebook post about the incident, writing, “We have caught a Chhatra League member on campus. We are taking him to Shahbagh Police Station. There will be no compromise on the issue of the League.” He later deleted the post.

Asked whether the arson attack might be linked to that incident, Saifullah said he could not confirm any connection.

Following the fire at the student leader’s home, a five-member team from Jatiya Chhatra Shakti visited the site on Friday morning.

The team included the organisation’s central organising secretary Mozammel Hossain, former member secretary of the district unit of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement Ali Hossain, and central member secretary of the National Revolutionary Platform Al Noor Mohammad Ayas.

Officer-in-charge of Dhobaura Police Station Shafiqul Islam told Prothom Alo that, according to the preliminary statement of Saifullah’s brother Zainal Abedin, a wooden storage room had caught fire.

 “We also saw three hacking marks on the tin wall of the house, and the tin had been cut. The family members themselves put out the fire. We are investigating the incident,” he said.

The OC added that Zainal had claimed the attackers came chanting slogans, but police had not yet found any witnesses supporting that claim.