The father of a student at Jahangirnagar University was killed after being hit by a bus in the capital’s Bakshibazar area leading a group of university students to detain 10 buses, demanding compensation for the victim’s family.
According to sources, the deceased was the father of Rifat Bin Zuhur, a student from the 48th batch of the university’s Physics department.
Following the accident, the students intercepted a bus belonging to Moumita Paribahan on the Dhaka-Aricha highway on Wednesday evening. By nightfall, they had brought a total of 10 buses to the university’s central playground and held them there.
Rifat’s classmates said that the incident took place around 2am on Tuesday night when a Moumita Paribahan bus, allegedly racing to pick up passengers, ran over Rifat’s father in Bakshibazar.
He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Once the news reached the campus, a group of students seized the company’s buses and brought them to the university.
Shamsuzzaman Sayem, a student from the 46th batch, said: “We came to know that Rifat’s father was killed after being hit by a Moumita Paribahan bus. Rifat has an 11-year-old younger brother who is suffering from blood cancer. Their father was staying in Dhaka to arrange treatment for the boy. He was the only earning member of the family. Now that he has been killed, who will take responsibility for this family? We demand that Moumita Paribahan pay compensation for this killing before taking back their buses.”
Meanwhile, the detained buses remain stationary while the drivers wait. One of the drivers, Md Jahangir, said: “Some students brought our buses into the campus. They said one of our company’s buses killed a man in Dhaka. We have informed our owners about the situation.”
Regarding the overall issue, the university’s Proctor, Professor AKM Rashidul Alam, said: “I have heard about the incident. It is very unfortunate. The incident happened outside the campus. However, Rifat’s friends may have acted out of emotion by detaining the buses. If the owners contact us, we will sit together and try to resolve the issue through discussion.”
