A member of the recently banned Rajshahi University unit of the Bangladesh Chhatra League suffered head injuries in an attack by men claiming to be activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatrashibir in Rajshahi. Thursday (October 24).

The victim, identified as Azizul Huq Akash, a 2022-2023 academic year student of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism (MCJ) of Rajshahi University, according to his classmates, 12 of whom were also injured in the attack.

Akash was later handed over to the police and arrested in a case, Boalia Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mehedi Masud confirmed to The Business Standard today (October 25).

Details of the case were not immediately available.

“Last night some Jamaat men handed over an RU BCL activist. He was later shown arrested in a case and produced before the court,” OC Mehedi said.

TBS could not immediately confirm the details of how Akash was arrested.

According to his colleagues, Akash is a follower of RU BCL president Mustafizur Rahman Babu.

RU MJC dean professor Mozammel Hossain Bokul said, “I, along with the supervisor and other professors of the department, went to the police station last night after hearing the incident. OC could not provide details about why he was arrested. or if there is any case against him”.

Meanwhile, Jamaat and Shibir leaders have denied involvement of the organizations in the attack.

“I heard that a student was attacked. But I don’t know the attackers or why the student was beaten. No one from Shibir unit of Rajshahi University was involved in this,” said RU Chhatrashibir president Abdul Mohaimen.

“RU is not under the jurisdiction. There is no question of us getting involved in matters of RU. We are not involved in that,” Rajshahi Metropolitan Chhatrashibir president Mr. Sifat Alam said.

Metropolitan Rajshahi Jamaat secretary Imaz Uddin Ahmed said, “I have not heard of any such incident. I don’t know who used the name of Jamaat. But I would have been informed if someone from the Jamaat was involved in it”.

attack

According to Akash’s colleagues who were with him during the attack, 25 students from the same academic year were on their way to Panchagarh for a field trip. They boarded the Banglabandha Express train for this purpose.

“Suddenly 25-30 unknown men reached the spot and started asking the name of the department through the train window. When I gave the name of our department, they said they were looking for a BCL activist named Sunny from the department,” one of the victims the attack told TBS on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The victim continued: “We said there was no one with us called Sunny, but one of the attackers drew the attention of one of our classmates and said it was him. When that colleague showed his student card, the attackers calmed down.

“Moments later, they mistook Akash for Sunny and started chasing him, forcing him to get off the train and run away. They chased him with locally made weapons and hit him hard on the head with a hockey stick, causing serious injuries. continued to beat him despite Akash repeatedly saying it was not Sunny.”

According to the victims, when they went to rescue Akash, a clash took place between the two groups. Akash lost his mobile phone and wallet in the attack.

“Later they took Akash somewhere and asked us to leave. When we refused, they took him to Boalia police station. There, they claimed to be Jamaat-Shibir men and left Akash with the police,” said another of Akash’s classmates.