Freshers from the 55th batch (first year) of the History Department at Jahangirnagar University have allegedly been subjected to physical and mental abuse (ragging) after being summoned to a sports ground late at night under the pretext of teaching them "manners".
Twelve second-year students from the department's 54th batch have admitted in writing to their involvement in the incident.
The incident took place at the university’s School and College ground between 11:00 pm on Friday and 2:00 am on Saturday.
Acting on information, members of the university’s proctorial team and the anti-ragging cell of Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (JUCSU) arrived at the scene and caught the accused students red-handed. The victims submitted a written complaint to the university proctor today, Saturday.
According to the victims and university authorities, second-year History students from the 54th batch summoned freshers from the department's 55th batch to the School and College ground on Friday night.
Once there, the newcomers were allegedly forced to hold their ears, verbally abused with obscene language, and subjected to various forms of physical and mental harassment under the guise of teaching them formal dressing etiquette.
During the ordeal, one of the freshers secretly alerted Mohammad Ali Chishti, an executive member of Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union. The proctorial team and members of the anti-ragging cell then rushed to the scene, caught the accused students in the act and took them to the university's security office, where video recordings and written statements were obtained.
Describing the abuse, victim Md Ehsanul Haque said, “They abused our parents, forced us to stand holding our ears and subjected us to physical and mental torture. Later, the proctor and others arrived and rescued us.”
Another victim, Raj Khan, said, “We had previously been subjected to similar abuse until late at night at the Central Field. We are also regularly harassed by being barred from entering the seminar rooms, classroom corridors, the central library and residential halls. We want exemplary punishment for those responsible for this disgraceful incident.”
Following the incident, 13 first-year History students submitted a written complaint to the proctor demanding exemplary punishment for the accused. Meanwhile, in a written statement signed by the class representative (CR) of the accused batch, the students admitted responsibility, stating, “We summoned 13 students from the 55th batch of the History Department to the School and College ground and ragged them under the pretext of teaching them manners.”
The statement named the 12 accused as Subhashish Roy, Nasim Uddin Majumdar, Abu Abtahi Anik, Naimul Hasan, Abdullah Mahdi, Isfaq Hadi, Md Raihan Khan, Kazi Shah Jamshed Alam, Saifullah Mansur Anan, Md Mahfuzur Rahman, Kartik Chandra Roy and Naim Ahmed, all from the department's 54th batch.
Assistant Proctor Professor Abdur Razzak said, “I received a call at around 2:00 am and went to the scene. After confirming the allegations of ragging, I caught them red-handed. They were then taken to the security office, where video recordings and written statements were collected. These will be discussed at a meeting of the proctorial body before being submitted to the university authorities, who will take the final decision.”
University Proctor Professor AKM Rashidul Alam said, “Prompt and strict action will be taken in accordance with the university's regulations.”