DU student assaulted for his 'delay in salaaming' BCL man

A third-year student has allegedly been assaulted as he delayed to salaam an activist of Bangladesh Chhatra League after the latter entered his room at Masterda Surja Sen Hall of Dhaka University.

The victim is Sajjadul Haque, a student of anthropology department while the BCL activist is Manikur Rahman, a fourth-year student of political science department and a follower of hall unit BCL secretary Siyam Rahman.

The incident took place at room no. 249 of the hall around 11:00pm on Tuesday and Sajjad lodged a complaint with the hall provost, Mokbul Hossain Bhuiyan, on Wednesday.

In a conversation with Prothom Alo, Sajjad said he was teaching a tuition student virtually when Manik along with some friends entered the room. Paying no heed to the ongoing virtual class, they called Sajjad and apparently wanted him to immediately approach them, greet with salaam and shake hands with them.

But things did not happen as per their expectation as Sajjad sought some time from them to finish the class in the meantime. When he approached them after the class, they slapped him in the face and hurled abuses. At one stage, Manik kicked him ferociously.

Disclosing her ordeal in a written complaint, Sajjad sought justice to the mental and physical assault he endured.

He submitted the complaint to a resident teacher at the hall office. The teacher assured him that action will be taken against the assaulter if the allegation is substantiated.

Meanwhile, BCL Surja Sen Hall unit secretary Siyam Ahmed termed the incident as unexpected and undesirable. No such incident had taken place earlier. An altercation led to the incident, he said.

“Manik expressed regret after the incident. We would settle the issue through talks,” Siyam added.

However, hall provost Mokbul Hossain Bhuiyan could not be reached over phone despite repeated attempts.