Shahid Suhrawardy Hall's acting leader Fazle Rabbi and several of his followers were accused of removing the bedding of a student, Abir Hossain, from his room on December 1. When the incident came to light, the student was put back in his room. Nawab Abdul Latif Hall's acting leader Tashfiq al Tauhid was accused of beating up a student, Mofizur Rahman, and ordering him to leave the hall on December 18. On March 20, Tashfiq al Tauhid and his follower Mozammel Haque allegedly locked a student, Khademul Islam, in his room, beat him up and threatened him when he demanded the return of money collected in the name of iftar.
RU Chhatra League president Mustafizur Rahman claimed that since many leaders had left the campus, these acting leaders were appointed to speed up organisational activities. He said these leaders were also appointed so that a healthy political trend could be restored in the halls where there were disputes over seat trading and other underhand deals. Regarding the various allegations against these acting leaders, he said, “There were some sporadic incidents and we resolved them immediately.”
'Room-work' to control seats
According to sources in the administration, there are a total of 5,383 seats in 11 halls. But the number of people taking rooms in the halls is much more than this. There is a competition to get a seat in the hall. For a long time, people of Chhatra League have been accused of running a seat-trading racket.
After the announcement of the new committee of the RU Students League in October last year, the president and general secretary of the University Students League had made a declaration against such seat trading. There have been no open allegations of such seat trading in the last six months, but behind the scenes seat control is still strong. Executive leaders in every hall go room-to-room to carry out their 'room-work'. They go to each room and record the names of students, academic year, when their studies will end and other details. They make threats about who will or will not stay in the hall, or will have to leave.
Students say that this so-called practice is being done by junior workers of the hall. They do this from evening till midnight. This disrupts the studies of common students. Under another program started recently in the hall named 'Joy Bangla Blood Scheme', personal information of students is collected from the rooms.