At least 10 people, including four journalists, were injured after leaders and activists of the Rajshahi University unit of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal allegedly carried out an armed attack on journalists and students outside Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Hall on Sunday at about 8:30pm.
Four injured journalists were taken to the university medical centre. They were identified as Zahidul Islam of Agamir Somoy, Nur Ahsan Mridul of The Daily Star, Arif Uzzaman Korban of bdnews24.com and Mainul Islam Raju of Samakal. Several other journalists were also injured.
Witnesses said at least 10 Chhatra Dal leaders and activists took part in the attack. Those identified as alleged attackers included university unit vice-president Ahsan Habib, joint general secretary Hasibul Islam, vice-president Shariful Islam and assistant office secretary Shahriar Alam.
According to witnesses and journalists present at the scene, Chhatra Dal activists arrived outside the hall in a procession from the university’s Transport Market at about 8pm. They had allegedly gone there to assault Ariful Islam, the general secretary of the hall union.
Several activists were seen carrying locally made weapons, including machetes, choppers, hockey sticks, pipes and baseball bats, witnesses said.
Witnesses said the activists hid the weapons after Proctor Mahbubur Rahman arrived at the scene. When university correspondents of Samakal and Ajker Patrika approached to record video after seeing weapons in their hands, the Samakal correspondent was beaten with a stick and an attempt was made to seize the Ajker Patrika correspondent’s mobile phone.
The bdnews24.com correspondent was also assaulted, after which the proctor took journalists inside the hall and locked the door, according to the account.
Other journalists arrived after receiving news of the attack. The Daily Star correspondent Nur Ahsan Mridul and Agamir Somoy correspondent Zahidul Islam were then allegedly beaten. Zahidul suffered a head injury. Journalists who tried to intervene were threatened with being buried, witnesses said.
Rajshahi University unit Chhatra Dal president Sultan Ahmed Rahi said, “I have informed the central Chhatra Dal about the matter. Action will be taken against them soon.”
Proctor Mahbubur Rahman said, “We have failed. We could not control the situation. We called the police. But the police also fled out of fear.”
University sources said the incident was triggered by a comment on a Facebook post by Chhatra Dal leader M Ahsan Habib concerning RAKSU general secretary Salahuddin Ammar.
Ahsan Habib alleged that Rakibul Islam, assistant cultural secretary of RAKSU, abused his mother and sister in the comments. Rakibul, however, said Ahsan Habib had sought his location while threatening to assault him. Both later made posts on social media stating their respective positions.