Islamic University in Kushtia on Saturday expelled five students—a leader and four activists of the ruling Awami League-backed student body Bangladesh Chhatra League—for one year for torturing a first-year student of finance and banking department.
The decision was made at a meeting of the disciplinary committee held on the campus with vice-chancellor Shaikh Abdus Salam in the chair.
The expelled students are BCL university unit vice-president Shanjida Chowdhury Ontora of statistics department and her associates Tabassum Islam and Maobiya Jahan, of finance and banking department, Halima Khatun Urmi of fine arts department and Israt Jahan Mim of law department.
Ontora is a student of 2017–08 academic session while the rest four are students of 2020–21 academic session. All of them are residents of Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall.
IU pro-vice-chancellor M Mahbubur Rahman, treasurer M Alamgir Hossain Bhuiya, proctor M Shahadat Hossain Azad, acting registrar HM Ali Hasan, among others, attended the meeting.
Proctor M Shahadat Hossain Azad told New Age that the university authorities expelled Ontora and four of her associates from the university for one year as per the code of conduct of the university.
The one year of the expulsion will be counted from Saturday, he said, adding that the decision of the meeting would be sent to the High Court by July 19.
The victim female student, however, could not be reached over phone despite repeated attempts for her comments.
The victim was tortured and intimidated by the IU unit BCL vice-president Shanjida Chowdhury Ontora and her associates, including Tabassum, Mim, Urmi and Maobiya, in Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall on the campus at night on February 12.
Ontora, at one stage, forced the victim to get undressed and videoed the incident on the mobile phone.
The BCL leader also threatened that she would make the video viral on social media if the victim disclosed the matter to anyone, according to the complaint the victim filed with the university administration, including the university proctor, student adviser and hall provost, on February 14.
Two probe bodies formed by the Islamic University authorities submitted their reports on February 26.
A probe body formed by the IU Chhatra League submitted its reports to its central body on February 27.
The Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall administration expelled the five accused on February 27.
Based on an investigation by the Kushtia district administration, the High Court on March 1 asked the Islamic University to suspend the five BCL leaders and activists for their involvement in the ragging, torturing, and humiliation of the victim resident student.
The court also asked the vice-chancellor and registrar of the university to immediately remove Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall provost Shamsul Alam and house tutors Moumita Akhter and Ishrat Jahan for their alleged negligence that led to the ill-treatment of the victim.
The bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil issued the directive on the scrutiny of a report submitted to the court on February 28 by the three-member probe committee.
The IU authorities later suspended the five accused students from the university temporarily as well as removed Shamsul Alam as provost of Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall following the High Court order.
The university authorities had also notified to Ontora and her four associates asking them to submit their responses to the complaint in seven working days.
The university administration also allocated a seat to the female student in Fazilatunnesa Mujib Hall on her choice following the High Court order.
