The students of Bogra Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College (SZMC) blocked the Dhaka-Rangpur highway for about one and a half hours on Sunday afternoon demanding six points including exemplary punishment for the killers of Mehraj Hossain Fahim, a final year student.
Earlier, they held a protest march on the campus. Later, the students blocked the road ignoring the police.
They returned to the campus when the police administration assured to accept the demands within 24 hours.
Bogra Sadar police station Inspector (Investigation) Babu Kumar Biswas said that Fahim, a final year student of the medical college, died in a hospital in Dhaka after 11 days on Sunday morning after being stabbed by a shopkeeper.
During the blockade, several kilometres of traffic jams were created on both sides of the highway. Due to this, people on the highway had to suffer.
While blocking the highway from 4pm on Sunday, among others, students Ashaman Roy, Argha Roy, Arnab Akand, and Anwarul Azim spoke.
Their six-point demands include – evacuation of all illegal shops adjacent to the second gate of the hospital within the next 24 hours, business permit subject to police clearance with trade license check for shopkeepers, installation of CCTV in front of student gates and multiple intersections, outsiders to be prohibited from entering the campus and Ansar to be deployed 24 hours at the entrance, round-the-clock police patrols at the new road junction, light arrangement on dark streets, and quick justice for the murder of Fahim.
They also said that classes and exams will be boycotted indefinitely if the demands were not met immediately.
On information, Additional Superintendent of Police of Bogra Sadar Circle Sharafat Islam, OC of Sadar police station Noore Alam Siddiqui, Inspector (Investigation) Babu Kumar Biswas, among other officials, and the Principal of SZMC Hospital Professor Dr Rezaul Alam Jewel went there.
Police said that the accused arrested in the Fahim murder case were in jail. The demands of the students will be implemented subject to discussion with the college administration.
Following the assurance, the students lifted the blockade around 5:30pm.