The University Teachers’ Network (UTN) has demanded exemplary punishment for a student who threatened to gang rape a female peer over filing a writ petition in the High Court related to the upcoming Ducsu election.
UTN members presented 13 demands to the university administration concerning the Ducsu election at a press conference held in front of Madhur Canteen on Tuesday.
Present at the press conference were DU Professor Dr Gitiara Nasreen, Professor Samina Luthfa, Professor Kamrul Hassan Mamun, and Professor Asif Mohammad Shahan.
At the event, UTN stated that, similar to their role in the 2019 Ducsu election, they will independently and freely act as observers in the September 9 election.
A written statement was read by DU teachers Tahmina Akhter and Dr Mosahida Sultana.
The statement said: “Centering the writ of a candidate in the High Court, a student of the Department of Sociology in a Facebook post threatened gang rape of the female petitioner. The threatening student, Ali Hossain, must be given exemplary punishment following due process to prevent such incidents in the future.”
It further said: “As the prescribed punishment for violation of any rules is not mentioned anywhere, the code of conduct of the Ducsu election is being violated indiscriminately. Even though such information has been reported, the commission is not taking proper measures.”
UTN’s demands also include ensuring a sufficient number of booths in proportion to total voters, extending voting time until 5pm, and making the vote-counting process effective and transparent through discussions with representatives of all concerned parties.
They stressed that all central decisions regarding the code of conduct and its violations must be made transparently and must not be discriminatory toward any party.
For non-residential students to come to campus safely to vote, the number of buses and trips should be increased as needed. Measures should ensure that journalists and social media news curators adhere to the code of conduct. Any incidents of sexual harassment must be resolved directly through the university’s Anti-Sexual Harassment Cell.
UTN also demanded that no discrimination occur in the appointment of teachers, officers, and employees for electoral duties, and that initiatives be taken to prevent cyberbullying, especially against students and teachers, through offensive posts and comments, with actions taken against such groups or pages.