The recent increase in criminal activities by several students of the University of Dhaka has made the authorities and general students concerned about their safety and the reputation of the institution.
In most cases, the students in question are registered members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the ruling party’s sister organization for students, which often makes headlines for its members’ violence and extremist activities.
However, the umbrella league leadership in the university is yet to acknowledge the matter, let alone act on it.
Although the chain of crimes has been clearly visible for some time now, on February 4, incidents of robbery of 22 thousand taka and their bank cards and the robbery of a covered van driver are coming to the fore in the central Shaheed Minar area . At the same place the next evening the issue again came into limelight.
The assaulted couple lodged a case at the Shahbagh police station. The 14 accused in the case included Faheem Tajwar Joy and Sajid Ahmed, students of the Department of History and Information Science and Library Management. Faheem and Sajid are members of the Surya Sen Hall unit of the Chhatra League.
Police caught three criminals red-handed, all students of Dhaka University, involved in the covered van incident.
The perpetrators are Fazle Naveed Onon, Sadiq Ahmed, and Mohd Rahat Rehman – all students of the 2021-2022 academic year.
Fazle and Sadiq are members of the Bejoy Ektor Hall unit of the Students’ League.
Some other notable recent events are
On January 17, Tajir Arafat Tushar, joint general secretary of DU’s Kabi Jasimuddin Hall unit Chhatra League, was arrested on charges of assaulting, harassing and looting a couple at Suhrawardy Udyan, adjacent to the campus, two nights earlier. Another accused in the case, Rahul Roy, a former Chhatra League member, is absconding since then. The university came under pressure and suspended Tushar and Rahul.
The university on January 25 expelled Nazmul Alam Jim, a student of the Social Welfare Department, for allegedly harassing a girl student at a private university near the Raju sculpture on the campus.
At least 15 people, including Nazmul Hasan Rupu and Tariq Hasan, students of the Institute of Information Technology and the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, were accused of extorting 32,000 taka from the driver of a car on campus in February. 7.
Najmul is the deputy secretary for human resource development of the students’ league’s university unit, while Tariq is a member of the organisation’s Fazlul Haque Hall unit. Both denied the allegation of assault. However, he admitted that the junior members of his group get a share of the amount given by the driver to the rickshaw pullers injured in the accident.
So far, the university has expelled 113 more students accused of various offences.
Students in general have started voicing their concerns about the trend of crimes on campus by their fellow students.