HC orders to form probe body over IU student torture

Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Thursday ordered the concerned bodies of the government to form a three-member committee to probe into the complaint filed by a student of the Islamic University in Kushtia accusing two Chhatra League leaders of torturing her.
Deputy Commissioner of the Kushtia district has been asked to form the probe body which will include an official of the administrative cadre, a judicial officer nominated by District Judge and an Associate Professor of the university. The committee will submit a report in the HC within seven days of its formation.
The High Court Bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed seeking it directives upon the respondents to take legal action against the persons involved in the incident.
Gazi Md Mohsin, a Supreme Court lawyer filed the writ petition on Wednesday seeking High Court directives regarding the issue.
Gazi Mohsin appeared in the hearing in support of his petition, while Deputy Attorney General Tushar Kanti Roy represented the state.
The two accused have been asked to stay off the campus pending the investigation. The court also asked to ensure the safety of the victim student.
The accused are Sanjida Chowdhury, Vice-President of the IU Chhatra League, and Tabassum Islam, an activist of the same Chhatra League unit. Sanjida is a student of Statistics and Tabassum is a student of Finance and Banking.
According to the complaint, on the first day of the first-year honours class for 2023-24 session on February 8, the victim started staying at the room of a resident student in Deshratna Sheikh Hasina Hall as no seat was allocated to her. At night, Tabassum in the dining room of the dormitory wanted to know who among the freshers were residing at the hall.
As the victim raised her hand, Tabassum became angry. She asked the victim why she didn’t inform her about the matter earlier. The Chhatra League activist also asked the victim to meet her in Sanjida’s room. But the student did not comply.
Around 10:00pm on February 12, Sanjida called the victim to the hall’s guest room. Sanjida along with Tabassum and several other Chhatra League activists tortured and assaulted her there until 3:30am, added the complaint.
The victim said, she was assaulted and tortured by some Chhatra League leaders and activists. The incident was filmed at one stage, she added. She was also threatened that she would be driven out of the hall and the video would be circulated if she told anyone about the torture.