Activists of the Gopalganj unit of the Bangladesh Chhatra League at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology (BSMRST) reportedly beat up the university’s Chhatra Union president over the ongoing protests regarding the rape of a fellow student.
Chhatra Union President Rabindranath Bappi, a fourth year International Relations student, was given primary treatment at the Gopalganj 250-bed Hospital after the attack on Wednesday.
“We have been carrying out the anti-rape protests as students and not as an organization,” he told Dhaka Tribune.
“But a vested quarter does not want the protests to continue,” he added.
He said that activists of BCL, the ruling Awami League’s student front —fourth year Physics student Mehedi Hassan, third year student Asif Siddiqui and a few others — beat him up in order to have the protests stopped.
“I have informed the university administration,” he said.
Both Mehedi and Asif reportedly have a reputation of beating up students and threatening journalists.
“Both of them have created a reign of terror in the university. The university authorities’ silence disappoints us,” a student, requesting anonymity, told this correspondent.
Mehedi and Asif could not be reached despite several attempts on the correspondent’s part to contact them.
Meanwhile, BCL activist Jahangir Alam said that the whole thing had been a misunderstanding and a slight argument happened over hall seats.
“All allegations of an assault are untrue,” he said, adding that there was no question of the BCL trying to stop an anti-rape protest.
