Alleged Sexual Harassment at RU
Expel culprit, demand students
Students of Rajshahi University form a human chain on the campus yesterday demanding expulsion of a student of economics department for allegedly sexually harassing a female student of the department.Photo: STAR
Several hundred students of economics department yesterday laid a siege to the administrative building demanding expulsion of a student for allegedly sexually harassing a female student. Residential students of Munnujan Hall of the university also staged separate demonstrations on campus. At a rally, the students alleged that Assaduzzaman Siju, a fourth year student of RU economics department sexually harassed a third year female student of the same department a few months ago. The victim has become mentally ill as Siju allegedly tortured her on and often, they alleged. The agitating students besieged the administrative building for two hours and kept the building's main gate under lock and key till 1:30pm demanding immediate expulsion of the student. During the programme, they locked in an altercation with university proctorial body and students adviser Prof Golam Sabbir Sattar as the authorities asked the students to end their protest programme. Students of the department warned that they will boycott all scheduled classes and examinations for an indefinite period if their demand for expulsion of Siju goes unheeded. Later, a seven-member student team met the university vice chancellor, Prof Abdus Sobhan and urged him to take immediate steps in this regard. The VC assured the students of looking into the matter without delay. Earlier, the students formed a human chain in front of the university central library and went to the university administrative building in a procession at around 11:30am. On Saturday, several hundred students placed a memorandum to the vice chancellor demanding expulsion of the culprit within 48 hours. Meantime, RU authorities formed a seven-member probe committee headed by Prof Tanzima Yasmin of bio-chemistry department and asked it to submit report within a short time. The authorities also served a show cause notice on the accused asking him to reply within two weeks, administration sources said.
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