At least three people – two Islami Chhatra Shibir activists and a general student – received bullet injuries on Sunday, as the police and Bangladesh Chhatra League activists chased some Shibir activists on the Rajshahi University campus.
The injured were identified as Abu Sufian and Imran Hossain, second year students of statistics department and presidents of Shibir Motihar Hall unit and Science Faculty unit respectively, while the other injured were Firoz Hossain, fourth year student of language department of the university.
Abu Sufian was admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital and Imran was admitted to Rajshahi Islami Bank Medical College Hospital, while Firoz took treatment at the University Medical Centre, RU Proctor Tariqul Hasan said.
Witnesses said the incident ensued around 12pm when some Shibir activists tried to flee after some BCL activists wanted to know the identity of their group as they were passing them near the BCL party tent on the campus.
Eventually, the BCL activists ran after them and fired about 5-7 gun shots and the police also fired around five gun shots, they added.
Later, the BCL activists led by its unit President Mizanur Rahman Rana and a group of police led by Officer-in-Charge Afzal Hossain rushed to the Shahidullah Arts building, suspecting that the Shibir activists hid there.
The police and BCL men fired about 15-20 gun shots at the building randomly, leaving the three students injured, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, BCL Organising Secretary of the university Faisal Ahmed Runu was seen shooting at the students in front of the law enforcers, creating a mixed reaction among the general students and teachers of the campus.
The university BCL president told reporters that they chased the Shibir activists as they made offensive remarks and trying to make the situation unstable.
When contacted, Shibir RU unit General Secretary Saifuddin Eyahia told the Dhaka Tribune that the BCL activists in association with the police attacked their activists while they were moving on the campus peacefully.
RU Proctor Prof Tarikul Hasan said the campus situation was under control.
Motihar police station OC Abdus Sobhan told the Dhaka Tribune that additional police were deployed on the campus to avert untoward situation, adding that few shots were fired to take the situation under control.