NWU students claim arrest of Azmul murder suspects

Students of North Western University (NWU) blocked a road in Khulna’s Sonadanga for nearly three hours yesterday, demanding the arrest of those accused in the murder of their fellow student, Md Azmul Hossain.

The protesters withdrew the blockade after police assured them that steps would be taken to arrest the accused and gave the authorities 24 hours to make the arrests. Traffic on the road resumed in the afternoon.

The students began the blockade around 10:30am by placing barricades on the road in front of the university. At one point, they set tyres on fire and staged demonstrations. Teachers of the university also expressed solidarity with the protesters.

Azmul, a first-year student of the Department of English Language and Literature at North Western University, was killed recently. No accused in the case had been arrested yet, triggering anger among the students, the protesters said.

They demanded that all the accused named in the first information report be arrested within 24 hours, warning of tougher programmes if the demand was not met.

The blockade disrupted traffic on various inter-district and local routes from Sonadanga Bus Terminal, causing suffering to passengers.

Around 1pm on Monday, Additional Police Commissioner of Khulna Metropolitan Police Muhammad Shahnewaz Khaled and Khulna City Corporation Administrator Nazrul Islam Manju spoke to the protesting students.

Shahnewaz said several police teams were conducting drives at different locations to arrest the accused in the Azmul murder case.

“They will be brought to justice soon,” he said.