Banned Chhatra League threatened and abused me over phone: Samantha Sharmin

Samantha Sharmin, who resigned from the National Citizen Party (NCP), has said that she received threats over the phone and was subjected to verbal abuse.

She made the disclosure in a post on her Facebook account at 12:35 pm on Sunday.

In her Facebook post, Samantha Sharmin said a man named Sabuj Khan, identifying himself as a member of the banned Barguna district unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League, threatened to give her the “Joy Bangla” treatment within a few days. He made the threat at 12:27 pm.

She also said he used abusive language against her. However, he declined to disclose his position in the Chhatra League. She added that the banned Awami League had no place in this country.

When contacted about the Facebook post, Samantha Sharmin told Prothom Alo, “When he called me on WhatsApp, the network connection dropped. I could only hear him identify himself as a member of the Barguna district Chhatra League. He called again later. When I answered, he said, ‘I am Sabuj Khan. Barguna district Chhatra League.’ He then said, ‘You'll be given the Joy Bangla treatment within a few days.’ I asked him, ‘What does Joy Bangla mean?’ He then started hurling obscene abuse at me.”

Samantha Sharmin said, “At one point, I asked the person threatening me which position he held in the Barguna district Chhatra League, where in Barguna he was based, and whether he had been involved in politics in Dhaka or had been active in Barguna from the beginning. He did not answer any of my questions and continued abusing me. Eventually, he hung up without answering.”

Samantha Sharmin said she would file a general diary (GD) with the police station today, Sunday.

Young people who led the July Mass Uprising in 2024 formed the National Citizens' Committee following the uprising. Samantha Sharmin served as its spokesperson.

When the young leaders of the July Mass Uprising formed the NCP nearly two years ago, Samantha Sharmin became one of its senior conveners.

A former student of the University of Dhaka, she most recently served as the party's joint convener. She resigned from the NCP on 5 November.

On Friday, Mahmuda Alam Mitu, an MP from a reserved women's seat nominated by the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance and an NCP leader, said she had received death threats.

A day earlier, on Thursday, unidentified people set fire to the house of Nusrat Tabassum, an NCP MP from a reserved women's seat, in Kushtia. Nusrat Tabassum has described the incident as an act of sabotage.