When thousands of people were celebrating the Pohela Boishakh on Tuesday, gangs of unruly youths swooped on around five to seven women and sexually harassed them at Suhrawardy Udyan and some parts of Dhaka University campus.
The incidents took place between 5pm and 7:30pm in presence of law enforcers and many ordinary people who thronged Shahbagh and DU area to take part in the annual festivity, witnesses say.
The DU authorities and student groups have blamed the on-duty law enforcers for failing to stop the attackers and bringing them to book immediately.
Condemnation on social networking platforms like Facebook and blogs flooded since the news over the assaults spread quickly on Tuesday demanding exemplary punishment of the culprits. Human rights group Ain o Salish Kendra also deplored the attacks.
Leaders of leftist students groups at DU yesterday gave the authorities seven days to arrest the attackers, many of who are believed to be first-year students of the university.
The assaults took place within less than two months after three-four women were sexually harassed in public near the entrance of Suhrawardy Udyan at TSC intersection during the Amar Ekushey Book Fair.
The Dhaka Tribune published two photos of the youths harassing a girl on February 21 but they could not be identified and brought to the book until now.
After series of protests and outrage in social media since Tuesday, police now say following CCTV footages, they have noticed one incident near the TSC roundabout.
“Four to five youths were trying to take off clothes of a woman while one or two came forward to save her,” a high official of police Ramna division told the Dhaka Tribune seeking anonymity.
SM Jahangir Alam Sarker, deputy commissioner of police (media), said it was an unexpected bad experience committed by some miscreants. “We have got some clues from the CCTV footages. We are now analysing these to identify the criminals and arrest them.”
He said no victim filed any complaint with the police over Tuesday’s incidents.
Even though the police acknowledged one incident, witnesses and student leaders alleged that at least seven women came under attacks near TSC and Matsya Bhaban areas on Tuesday afternoon.
The attackers were honking vuvuzelas during the assaults to suppress the victims’ screams, witnesses said adding that they also filmed the incidents with inhuman enthusiasm.
Bangladesh Students’ Union DU unit President Liton Nandi received severe injuries while trying to rescue a woman near the TSC.
Witnesses said a group of at least 30 youths swooped on a number of women and assaulted them when a string of festivities was under way in and around the area since dawn to embrace the first day of the Bengali new year.
“I saw some miscreants assaulting a girl. She fell down on the ground but the youths were trying to take off her clothes in public.
“They started beating me as I tried to rescue her leaving my right arm broken.
“Later, I covered the girl with my panjabi,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
Liton blamed the police for being reluctant during the incident. “The on-duty police members visited the spot after almost one and a half hours. By that time, the attackers left the place smoothly.”
While contacted, DU acting proctor Prof Amzad Ali also blamed police for the shameful attacks on women.
Chief of Shahbagh police Sirajul Islam termed it a stray incident.
“The on-duty police members charged batons on the attackers but they failed to stop them from harassing the women sexually,” the OC said.
Nuzaira Tarannum, a student of DU mass communication and journalism department, said: “It is very embarrassing for the women to face such inhumane activity on a university campus.”
She said if the police and the university authorities cannot ensure security of the women, they should not organise such massive programmes on the campus.
Several other students allege that incidents of sexual harassment take place on the campus very often by gangs of influential youths but those go unheeded by the authorities and the police since many victims do not file complaints.
The university’s committee to prevent sexual harassment of students, formed last year in line with a High Court directive, has also been inactive.
Expressing concern over the rising incidents of sexual assaults, women and gender studies department Chairman Prof Tania Haque said: “Women are tortured not only at home or workplace, they are now being harassed frequently in public places.”
She blamed the mindset of the male-dominated society for such acts.
“Had the sexual harassment prevention committee worked properly, the number of such incidents would have dropped significantly,” she added.
Students’ Union, Progressive Students’ alliance and other leftist student organisations brought out procession on the campus yesterday demanding arrest of the culprits and a thorough investigation.
From a press conference at Madhur Canteen, the student leaders also announced several protest programmes including an ultimatum to arrest the culprits within seven days.
Assault on JnU bus
Meanwhile, general students of Jagannath University beat up a Bangladesh Chhatra League activist of the university unit for harassing a girl on its bus on Tuesday.
The accused was identified as Nazmul Islam, a student of political science department.
Eyewitness said Nazmul along with his associates were harassing the girl on the university bus “Uttaran” which was going towards New Market after attending a day-long new year celebration programme. Noticing the incident, some ordinary students protested the harassment and threw him out after beating him up.
The university correspondent of Bangla Tribune, Rohan, who was on the next bus at that time, took snaps when Nazmul had been driven out.
But some Chhatra League activists caught Rohan, beat him up and took away his camera.
When contacted, acting proctor Nur Mohammad said action would be taken against those responsible for the incident once they get a written complaint in this regard.
Nazmul was later expelled from the party for violating discipline, Chhatra League central committee said in a statement.