Conductor assaults DU female student on moving bus

A Dhaka University female student said on Friday she was thrashed in a moving public bus on her way home in the capital's Rampura area, reports UNB.

Rafia Tamanna, a final-year student of Mass Communication and Journalism department, said she filed a general diary with Rampura police station last night in this connection.

The student, also a journalist herself, boarded a bus of "Torongo Plus" on Rampura road around 7:00pm on Thursday, according to the complaint.

Rafia said she was being continuously harassed and catcalled by the bus conductor since she boarded the bus, “Dhaka Metro ‘Ka’ 15-7778”.

At one stage, "He threatened to throw me off the running bus when I showed him my student ID card and demanded a half pass," she said.

“A good female student shouldn’t be all alone in a bus at night,” Rafia quoted the conductor as telling her.

“When he approached me, I got scared and slapped him out of reflex, as you know the experiences of a woman in a local bus are not very pleasant in Bangladesh," she said.

"Then the man repeatedly punched me, kicked me, and was prepared to throw me off the bus when the driver intervened and pulled him back," she said.

After getting down from the bus, Rafia said, she went to Rampura Police Station right away and filed a general diary (GD), a copy of which was obtained by UNB.

At one point, the victim slapped the conductor, and the conductor then hit her several times in the face, resulting in profuse bleeding from her nose.

Contacted, officer-in-charge of Rampura police station Md Rafikul Islam said, “After receiving the GD copy, we took the accused to the police station.”

“Action will be taken against him in accordance with the law,” the OC added.