The Jagannath University (JnU) Central Students’ Union (JUCSU) has submitted a memorandum to the vice-chancellor with nine demands, including the removal and punishment of the proctor, justice for an attack on students, ensuring administrative accountability, and establishing a safe and democratic environment on campus.
The demands were made in a memorandum signed by JUCSU vice-president (VP) Riazul Islam on Thursday (6 August).
The memorandum said students had peacefully entered the auditorium with placards to demand that the university’s second-campus project work be handed to the army, that temporary housing for 1,600 students be built on 7 acres of land, and that the medical centre be improved. It alleged that the proctorial body and Chhatra Dal leaders and activists then snatched the placards and forcibly drove the students out.
The students later held a peaceful sit-in in front of the Shaheed Ikramul Haque Sajid building, where JUCSU VP Riazul Islam, general secretary Abdul Alim Arif and other elected representatives expressed solidarity with the students’ demands.
JUCSU alleged that at one point the university proctor told the protesting students: “If you do not withdraw the movement, you will be removed from here by creating a scene.”
The memorandum then alleged that Chhatra Dal leaders and activists, along with outsiders carrying makeshift weapons, attacked the sitting students, JUCSU representatives and leaders and activists of various student bodies. It claimed that two July fighters shot during the July movement, the president and general secretary of Chhatra Shakti, leaders of the Socialist Students’ Front, activists of the Inqilab Mancha and many ordinary students were injured. It also said JUCSU VP Riazul Islam, GS Abdul Alim Arif and executive member Abdullah Al Faruk were targeted and seriously injured.
JUCSU further alleged that although the attack went on for a long time, the university administration took no effective steps to stop it, seriously damaging students’ safety and their trust in the administration.
JUCSU’s nine demands are: the proctor’s resignation and punishment; identifying the attackers and giving them maximum punishment; filing cases against the outsiders; permanent security measures to control outsiders’ entry to campus; releasing CCTV footage and holding a judicial inquiry; covering the injured students’ treatment costs; ensuring the safety of teachers, students and staff; removing those responsible for not checking on the injured in hospital; and establishing a campus free of the unhealthy politics of non-students.
At the end of the memorandum, JUCSU said it expected the administration to take effective steps within the next three working days. Otherwise, the administration’s inaction would be seen as a failure to fulfil its duty to students, and the administration would have to bear responsibility for the resulting situation.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report