Dhaka University Progotishil Chhatra Jote, a platform for the leftist student bodies, yesterday demanded the release of arrested admission seekers and withdrawal of all “false and fabricated” cases against them.
They made the demands at a press conference at Madhur Canteen of Dhaka University (DU) at noon. DU unit Chhatra Union President Liton Nandi read out a written statement at the conference.
They also threatened to stage a sit-in programme in front of the residence of Dhaka University Vice Chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique on Monday if their demands were not fulfilled before that day.
On October 14, just after the 2014-15 admission test, the authorities decided to allow only freshly passed HSC students to appear in its admission tests from the 2015-16 academic sessions.
Some students, who attended this year admission test of the university, started staging demonstrations demanding a reversal of the decision.
They staged a hunger strike, held rallies, and submitted a memorandum to President Md Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the DU vice chancellor.
Despite repeated assaults by police they continued their programmes from October 17.
On December 21, several students gathered in front of Raju Sculpture on the campus before going to meet the vice chancellor as part of their schedule around 10am.
Shahbagh police, led by Proctor Amjad Ali, arrested eight of them from the altar of Raju Sculpture and four from the TSC area and seven from Suhrawardi Uddyan. They later released three, detaining 16 others.
The university authority filed a case against the 16 students for causing a loss of around Tk5 lakh by vandalising different structures of the university.
The Dhaka Tribune ran a report titled “16 admission seekers languishing in jail in ‘false case’” yesterday about the alleged vandalism caused by the arrested admission seekers, which made it clear that no act of vandalism by them took place on the day they were arrested.
Chhatra Union leader Liton told the press conference yesterday the authority had filed the case against 16 innocent admission seekers who were arrested from the campus on December 21.
He said there was only a procession at the university on the day that the admission seekers were arrested and if any case should be filed, it should be against those involved in the procession, not the admission seekers who are innocent.
The progressive students leader urged the authority to hold back their decision barring students from not taking part in the university admission tests for a second time.
Central unit Chhatra Union Vice President Maruf Billah Tonmoy, DU unit Somajtrantrik Chahtra Front President Rashed Shariar and DU unit Chhatra Federation President Monowar Hossen Masud were also present at the conference.
