Harassment of students in university halls should end

The administration of Dhaka University has expelled three BCL activists from the Bijoy Ekattar residential students hall for six months for mentally and physically abusing a first year student in the guest room of the hall. Although many allegations of torture have been raised against the leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League’s student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) in the dormitories of different universities including Dhaka University, rarely justice or remedy ensued.

The number of seats in the residential halls of the university is limited. Many do not get seats. Certain BCL leaders arrange for the new students to stay in different residential halls on the condition of participating in the party activities. In most cases these students land up in the guest room of the hall. If any student does not join the programme of Chhatra League, he is punished.

Chhatra League leaders and workers do not want to accept any excuse in this regard. Akhtarul Islam, a student of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, was mentally and physically abused in the guest room of Bijoy Ekattar Hall on 26 January night by the leaders and workers of the BCL Hall unit. He lost consciousness. Later, when the aggrieved student lodged a complaint against six leaders and activists of the organisation, the inquiry committee found three of them guilty and suspended them from the hall for six months.

General students are often harassed by BCL leaders in residential halls but do not dare to complain. They believe they have to obey the orders of seniors to stay in the hall. However, the BCL leaders do not want to admit the allegations of torture in the guest rooms and forcing students to go to political events. They claim that the students voluntarily take part in their programmes. If indeed students are interested to go to political events voluntarily, then why do the leaders and activists call them to the guest room and torture them?

Chhatra League or any other organisation has nothing to do with the allocation of seats in the residential dormitories or the management of the dining hall. The dormitory administration is assigned to take care of these. A few months ago, the BCL leaders and activists of Khulna University of Science and Technology pressured and humiliated the provost of the hall Mohammad Selim Hossain for giving the responsibility of dining management of Lalon Shah Hall to a chosen candidate.

He died a few hours later. In that incident, the university administration expelled four BCL leaders including the general secretary of the university BCL unit from the University for good.

We welcome the decision of Bijoy Ekattar Hall administration. Through this, the leaders and activists of the ruling party student organisation will be cautious a bit. At the same time, the administration has to ensure that no one can harass or torture the aggrieved student.

We think that if the university and hall administration is strict, it is not difficult to stop the violence of the leaders and workers of Chhatra League. Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor, Akhtaruzzaman said, "All students are treated equally." If all the students are treated equally, the leaders and activists of the opposition party, who are university students, should also be accommodated in the residential halls. Abuse and torture of students in the ‘guestroom’ must stop.