BUET BCL men beat up DU reporters
A group of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) allegedly assaulted three Dhaka University-based journalists on Saturday night.
When they went to the BUET campus for a piece of information, they came under attack despite introducing themselves as Dhaka university reporters.
BCL men of Sher-e-Bangla Hall unit of BUET, including deputy office secretary Asif Raihan Mina, science and technology affairs secretary SM Mahmud Shetu, joint secretary Nafiul Alam Fuji, publicity secretary Niladri Niloy Das and joint secretary Iftek Harun, allegedly confined the journalists inside a dormitory for nearly an hour and assaulted them.
The victims— Mehedi Hasan, Kabir Kanon and Muntasir Zihad-- are Dhaka University correspondents of Daily Kaler Kantho, Daily Ittefaq and Daily Janakantha respectively.
Meanwhile, Dhaka University Journalists’ Association (DUJA) on Sunday issued a statement condemning the incident and demanded exemplary punishment to the attackers immediately.
“If disciplinary action is not taken against the accused BCL men within 24 hours, DUJA will go for tough action against them,” the statement added.
The journalists claimed that they went to Sher-e-Bangla Hall as they were informed that a student of Pharmacy department of DU was picked up and being confined inside the dorm by some BUET students.
After reaching there, they found the hall gate locked and was denied access by the guard despite their request.
But the guard denied the access saying that Chhatra League has restricted the access to the hall. Later they introduced themselves and managed to enter the hall, alleged the journalists.
Soon after the journalists entered into the hall, a group of BCL activists appeared and asked why they went there. At one stage, the BCL men snatched wallets, ID cards and mobile phones of the journalists.
They took the trio to hall sports room and tortured them for half an hour. They were released an hour later as top brass of BCL and members of Dhaka University Journalists Association (DUJA) intervened.
“We went there to verify whether a DU student was picked up or not, because none could give us authentic information. The BCL men assaulted us even after we introduced us to them,” said Mehedi Hasan of Kaler Kantho.
Contacted, BUET BCL president Jami Us Sani claimed that none was assaulted there. Some students misbehaved with the journalists because of ‘misunderstanding’ between the two groups.
