Eden College in Dhaka has become a talk of the country recently due to back-to-back violent incidents that brought allegations of power abuse by some student leaders to the fore.
The allegations include extortion, corruption, seat trading, bullying, threats, blackmail, torture, and harassment.
Although the conflict began involving two factions of the ruling party’s student wing Chhatra League, later it was fueled by some other anti-government political groups making a big show centring the incident, according to people involved with the investigation.
Chhatra League insiders said the conflict began when some posted leaders of Eden College wanted to establish supremacy on the college campus in parallel with BCL college unit’s President Tamanna Jasmine Riva and General Secretary Razia Sultana.
On September 22, Vice President Jannatul Ferdous gave an interview to the media, accusing the president and the general secretary of carrying out illegal activities.
Tamanna Riva and Razia Sultana have been allegedly involved in several illegal activities, including seat trading, extortion, student torture, and taking control of hostels and the canteen. They even started realizing toll from foot-way shops, according to Janntul and other rebel leaders of the Chhatra League unit.
Two days after the interview, on September 24, a scuffle occurred between Jannatul and Razia when the rival group threatened them, and threw Jannatul out of the college dormitory.
On the following day, two clashes reportedly took place at Eden College, injuring at least 12 students.
Sonali Akter, vice president of Chhatra League unit of Eden College, lying motionless following the clash on campus on Sunday evening, September 25, 2022 Dhaka TribuneAmid the clashes, some activists of anti-government student wings like Islami Chhatri Shangstha and Islami Chhatra Shibir allegedly took part in the violence and carried out vandalism on the college campus.
“We do not believe that the people, who trample the posters and banners, including the picture of our Father of the Nation and party President Sheikh Hasina, are believers of the Awami League,” said Tilottoma Shikder, vice president of BCL central committee.
She is also a member of the probe committee formed to investigate the recent incidents.
“We investigated the matter after observing consecutive three days at Eden College compound. We’ve found that apart from in fight between two groups of Chhatra League, there was instigation by some other political wings to tarnish the image of BCL and the government,” Tilottoma told Dhaka Tribune on Sunday.
The central Chhatra League, on September 25, suspended the activities of its Eden College committee following the infighting.
At the same time, 16 members were permanently expelled for violating its regulations, said a notice signed by Chhatra League President Al Nahian Khan Joy and General Secretary Lekhak Bhattacharjee.
Amid these incidents, several social media posts have gone viral where current and former students made allegations that some students are being abused by the BCL leaders of the Eden College unit.
However, pro-government activists claimed that this campaign on social media had been spread by Islamic Chhatri Sangstha leader Shakera Arzu and her followers.
After the suspension order came, a petition was filed with a Dhaka court seeking its permission to file a case against eight students of Eden College Chhatra League, including its president and secretary, in connection with the assault of Jannatul Ferdous.
The eight people are BCL unit President Tamanna Jasmine Riva, General Secretary Razia Sultana, Nuzhat Faria Roksana, Ayesha Islam Mim, Nurjahan, Ritu Akhter, Anika Tabassum Swarna, and Kamrun Nahar Jyoti.
A Dhaka court is likely to pass an order in this regard after recording the plaintiff's statement, Jannatul’s lawyer Nur-e-Alam said.
After the clashes, Eden College was declared shut for ten days from October 1 to October 10.
“The holiday notice was issued as per the yearly calendar of the Education Ministry, not because of the clashes among some student leaders,” Supriya Bhattacharjee, principal of the college, told Dhaka Tribune on Sunday.
She rejected the allegations of seat trade, extortion, and torture inside the College campus, saying: “We never received any complaint on such activities. Some people are raising these issues to tarnish the image of this reputed educational institution.”
