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A five-member committee has been formed to investigate an attack on journalists allegedly carried out by activists of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) on the Rajshahi University campus.
The university administration is also preparing to file a case with Motihar Police Station over the incident, said University Proctor Prof Dr Mahbubur Rahman.
Ten people, including four journalists, were injured in the attack, which allegedly took place in front of Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Hall at around 8:30pm on Sunday.
Witnesses said JCD leaders and activists arrived at the hall gate from the university’s Transport Market in a procession, allegedly intending to attack Ariful Islam, general secretary of the hall students’ union.
They were reportedly carrying locally made weapons, including machetes, cleavers, hockey sticks, pipes and baseball bats.
When the university proctor arrived at the spot, the JCD activists allegedly hid the weapons, witnesses said.
Journalists who approached the area to record the incident were then allegedly attacked.
Witnesses said a Samakal correspondent was beaten with sticks in the presence of the proctor, while an attempt was made to seize the mobile phone of an Ajker Patrika correspondent.
The bdnews24.com correspondent was also allegedly assaulted later. The proctor subsequently took the journalists inside the hall and locked the door for their safety.
When other journalists arrived after hearing about the incident, correspondents of The Daily Star and Agamir Shomoy were also allegedly beaten. Zahidul Islam suffered a head injury.
Journalists who tried to intervene were also allegedly threatened by the attackers.
The incident reportedly originated from a dispute over comments made by JCD leader Ahsan Habib in a Facebook post concerning Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union (RUCSU) general secretary Salahuddin Ammar.
University Proctor Mahbubur Rahman said, “We failed. It was not possible for us to control the situation. We called the police, but the police also fled in fear.”
Rajshahi University unit JCD President Sultan Ahmed Rahi said he had informed the central committee about the incident and that action would be taken against those responsible.
Protesting the attack, journalists staged a demonstration demanding that the university administration file a case against those accused, ensure their arrest, cancel the studentship of students involved in the attack and revoke the certificates of those who had already completed their studies.
They also demanded that people accused in the incident who are not university students be barred from entering the campus.
The journalists later withdrew their programme after the university administration assured them that a case would be filed by Monday.
Meanwhile, allegations have emerged that CCTV footage from the site of the attack was deleted after the incident.
The JCD unit on the campus and Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Hall Provost Dr Mahbubur Rahman have been accused of involvement in deleting the footage.
Journalists alleged that important parts of the attack should have been captured by a CCTV camera installed in front of the hall, but the footage was later found to be unavailable.
They claimed the footage had been deleted to conceal the identities of those involved and the actual circumstances of the incident.
Denying the allegation, Hall Provost Mahbubur Rahman said the CCTV connection had been disconnected because renovation work was underway at the time.
“So, there is no footage. The allegation that the footage was deleted is completely false,” he said.
University Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Administration) Dr Abdul Alim said the relevant information had been preserved.
“Anyone can make allegations. There is no shortage of documents. The investigation committee is collecting information from the sources it needs to,” he said.
Asked about the allegation that the CCTV footage had been deleted, or the hall provost’s claim that the connection had been disconnected, the pro-vice-chancellor declined to comment further.
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