Police crossed their limit by brutally attacking students who were peacefully protesting fee hikes and evening classes at Rajshahi University, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman said yesterday.
Around 100 student protesters and eight journalists were injured on February 2 when armed Chhatra League activists backed by police swooped on them at the RU campus.
The NHRC chief said any citizen of the country had the right to demonstrate peacefully against any injustice. He added that attackers, whatever their identities, should be brought to justice.
“Watching video footages and news (reports), it seemed to me that the protests were peaceful. Police or Chhatra League had no right to open fire on them,” Mizanur said as a group of former RU students handed him an investigation report on the incident at his office yesterday.
“I sent a letter to the state minister for home asking why police and BCL opened fire, but he did not respond. We will send another letter asking why they failed to answer in two or three days,” Mizanur said.
The fact finding mission by the RU alumni claimed that the February 2 attack was preplanned, as some top officials of the university administration, deputy commissioner Proloy Chisim of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police and leaders of RU unit BCL, the ruling party’s student wing, held a meeting just before launching the attack.
The probe report said some top RU officials, including three assistant proctors, ordered the attack, while police, along with BCL leaders and activists, carried it out.
The RU authorities were now trying to evade responsibility by putting the blame on Jamaat-Shibir, it added.
“It is immaterial who waged the movement as every person has the right to get involved in a peaceful movement. So, the government cannot drop the issue of justice by raising the issue of Jamaat-Shibir,” the NHRC chairman said.
The fact finding committee also found that the injured students were not going to local hospitals for treatment fearing police harassment as the university authorities had filed cases against 750 unnamed students.
The RU authorities should bear the cost of treatment for the injured students, Mizanur said.
The probe committee also made a series of recommendations, such as forming a truth commission to investigate the incident and suspending some top RU officials, including Vice Chancellor Mizan Uddin, student adviser Sadequl Arefin Matin and Proctor Tariqul Hasan, to keep them from influencing the investigation.
Criticising public universities that act like private institutions, charging extra fees and admitting outside students in evening classes, Mizanur opined: “They can enroll students from the waiting lists of admission tests for evening shifts, if they really want to create opportunities for more students.”
