The Dhaka University (DU) family yesterday observed Black Day on the campus with demands to the government to take necessary steps to identify the ‘main culprits’ behind the torture of DU teachers and students during and after the unrest on August 20, 2007 at DU.
They also demanded a fresh investigation into the August 20-22 campus unrest in 2007.
The University authorities took prolonged programmes to observe the occasion.
A discussion was held in the TSC auditorium in the morning with DU Vice Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique in the chair.
The discussion was addressed, among others, by Rashed Khan Menon, MP, Pro-VC Harun-or-Rashid, Dhaka University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) President Prof Khondaker Bazlul Haque, Prof Anwar Hossain and Prof Akhteruzzaman.
Addressing the discussion, Dr Arefin Siddique urged the Government to take steps to investigate the incidents of August, 2007.
He also demanded exemplary punishment against those who were involved in this incident.
“If the guilty people are put on trial, nobody will dare to cause such incidents in the future,” he said.
Lawmaker and Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee for education ministry Rashed Khan Menon promised that all information regarding the actual culprits behind the atrocities would be made public.
In protest against the atrocities committed on teachers and students by law enforcement agencies, DU teachers, students and officials wore black badges. All classes were postponed from 11:00am to 1:00pm to observe the day.
DUTA held another discussion marking the day at the University Club in the afternoon.
The August campus protests erupted following the assault of some students by some army men in the university playground during a football match between two departments on August 20, 2007.
Two university teachers were also assaulted by the army men of the temporary camp housed at the gymnasium. Later, the protests flare up across the country including major educational institutions in the city.
Two DU professors Anwar Hossain and Harun-or-Rashid were arrested on
August 23, 2007. Later, then DUTA president Prof Sadrul Amin and Prof Neem Chandra Bhowmick and a number of students were also arrested following the incident.
