BCL men abuse and chase away student from his allocated room in Mohsin Hall

Dhaka UniversityFile Photo

A faction of Dhaka University’s Hazi Muhammad Mohsin Hall unit Chhatra League (BCL) has abused and removed a student, who has a legitimate seat, from his allocated room on allegations of illegal occupation, reports news agency UNB.

Mohammad Saiful Islam, the victim, is a third-year student of Mass Communication and Journalism department of the university. The hall administration allocated a seat for him at room no. 562.

Talking to the news agency, Saiful said, “Some of my friends and I were eating in my room. Suddenly some BCL activists came and asked my identity. When I showed them my allotment document, they rejected it and said that administrative allocation is of no use as they are the ones who control the halls.”

“Later they abused me physically and forcefully removed me from my room. They also abused my friends,” he added.

Saiful has lodged a complaint against five BCL activists with the hall administration, seeking safety and his room back.

The hall authorities have taken control of the room and a decision will be taken to return the room to the legitimate student after thorough investigation
Professor Masudur Rahman, Provost of Mohsin Hall

The accused BCL activists are -- Shoriful Islam, 3rd year student of Management department, Shakhawat Ovi, 3rd year student of Institute of Social Welfare and Research (ISWR), Sheikh Imran Islam Emon from the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management (THM), Muntasir Hossen, a 3rd year student of Islamic Studies Department and Shakhawat Hossen Shanto, a post graduate student of Institute of Education and Research (IER).

All the accused are the followers of Mohammad Hossain, general secretary of Mohsin Hall unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League.

An witness said two more BCL activists -- Tawhidul Islam from Islamic Studies department’s 2017-2018 session and Mohammad Samin Chowdhury from Psychology department’s 2017-2018 session -- were involved in the occupation of the room.

When asked about the incident, Hossain said “Our boys (BCL activists) used to live in that room three months ago. An elder brother had given them the seat.  Later, there was trouble because another elder brother of ours named Rocky wanted to give the seat to an outsider student. I don’t know more than that.”

But others said that a student used to stay in the room till last night. After he left the room on Thursday Saiful went up to the room after getting allotment from the hall authority.

Following the incident, resident teachers of the hall Ainul Islam and Md Emaul Haque Sarker Titu locked the room for the time being.

“Administrative action will be taken against anyone responsible after investigation,” Ainul said.

Professor Masudur Rahman, provost of Mohsin Hall, said that the hall authorities have taken control of the room and a decision will be taken to return the room to the legitimate student after thorough investigation.