BCL leader sues over 70 JCD leaders

BCL leader sues over 70 JCD leaders

A leader of Bangladesh Chhatra League, student wing of the ruling Awami League, on Friday filed a case against more than 70 leaders and activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

The BCL leader filed the case, accusing that the JCD leaders and activists intended to commit murders during recent clashes between the two student organisations on and near the Dhaka University campus.

Shahbagh police station officer-in-charge Moudut Haldar confirmed the filing of the case.

He said that a DU BCL leader filed the case against 17 named and 50-60 unidentified JCD leaders and activists over the Tuesday clashes that took place in front of Curzon Hall.

BCL Shahidullah Hall unit president Zahidul Islam Zahid filed the case on Friday night.

Those named in the case as accused are JCD’s general secretary Saif Mahmud Jewel, senior vice-president Rashed Iqbal Khan, senior joint secretary Rakibul Islam and organising secretary Abu Afsan Md Yahia, JCD DU unit’s convener Akhtar Hossain and member secretary Aman Ullah Aman, Dhaka north unit’s president Mehedi Hasan and senior vice-president Rajib Hossain, Kabi Nazrul Govt College unit’s president Saidur Rahman and senior vice-president Irfan Ahmed, Titumir College unit’s president Arifur Rahman and senior vice-president Mahfuzur Rahman, Dhaka west unit’s president Abul Kalam Azad and senior vice-president Torikul Islam and Dhaka College unit’s president Shahinur Rahman and senior vice-president Delwar Hossain.

JCD DU unit convener Akhtar Hossain said that the whole world learnt from the mass media that BCL leaders and activists attacked our peaceful programme on the Dhaka University campus, adding, ‘But those who attacked us have now filed a case against us.’

He further said, ‘The university administration should have taken steps against those who attacked us, but they didn't. One thing is thus clear that Chhatra League and the university administration are conducting attacks against the JCD in a planned way, a deliberate process of destroying the environment for the coexistence of student organisations at the university.’

On Thursday, at least 47 JCD leaders and activists and a journalist were injured as BCL leaders and activists swooped on them on the Dhaka University campus and its adjacent areas.

Witnesses said that they heard at least three gunshots during the clash that followed the BCL attack.

BCL activists also beat up a journalist during the clash calling him a JCD activist and snatched his mobile phone.

The injured journalist is Abir Ahmed, a staff reporter of an online news portal named ‘The Daily Campus’.

Earlier, on Tuesday morning, at least 40 JCD leaders and activists, including female leaders, were injured in an attack by BCL on the university campus.

That day, the two student groups engaged in a clash near Doyel Chattar in which also some activists sustained minor injuries.

The JCD activists were forced to leave the DU area at about 12:00pm after they faced stiff resistance from the BCL activists.

Denying the allegation of the attacks, BCL DU unit general secretary Saddam Hussain said that they did not attack the Chhatra Dal, rather Chhatra Dal cadres attacked them with home-made weapons.

On Wednesday, the DU administration filed a case against three to four hundred unidentified people with the Shahbagh police station over the Tuesday incident.