Several hundred Dhaka University students, in the wake of the death of a fellow in a traffic accident on Tuesday, continued holding protests on Wednesday.
A bus of Rajdhani Express hit Tawhiduzzaman, a second-year student of international relations and resident of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall, on Tuesday afternoon and he died in a hospital in the evening.
Tawhiduzzaman was buried in the Niyamatpur graveyard in his native place in Kishoreganj on Wednesday after a namaz-e-janaza at Niyamatpur Jame Masjid.
Dhaka University students, especially of the international relations department, cultural activists, teachers and Chhatra League activists brought out a mourning procession, held sit-ins and organised gayebana janazas on Wednesday.
In the morning, a number of of students joined the procession, carrying an empty coffin in protest at Tawhiduzzaman’s being killed in traffic accident.
They staged a sit-in in the Shahbagh crossing and organised a namaz-e-janaza, without the body, in the place.
The protesters later staged another sit-in in front of the office of the Dhaka University vice-chancellor.
The students demanded a footbridge or an underpass in the Shahbagh crossing, compensation for Tawhiduzzaman’s family, assurance of security for students and a ban on vehicles without having university stickers entering the campus.
The vice-chancellor, AAMS Arefin Siqqidue, told students that the university authorities would contact the Dhaka South City Corporation for the construction of a footbridge or an underpass.
He said that the authorities would arrange for the compensation to Tawhiduzzaman’s family as soon as possible.
Teachers and students of international relations held a human chain on the campus demanding effective steps to stop traffic accidents on the campus and punishment of the people responsible for such accidents. They also held a gayebana janaza.
University unit Chhatra League activists wore black badges, teamed up as Dhaka University Family, brought out a mourning procession and held a rally in front of the arts faculty building. They demanded punishment of the bus driver.
In the evening, campus-based cultural organisations held a rally at the Raju Memorial Monument.
The police on Wednesday halted traffic in the Shahbagh crossing fearing protests and vandalism by students for about six hours which created a huge tailback in neighbouring areas. The police allowed traffic through the road stretch about 1:00pm.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police’’s deputy commissioner for the Ramna zone, Nurul Islam, said that traffic through Shahbagh had been closed for six hours to head off trouble.
The university’s chief security officer Kamrul Ahsan, meanwhile, filed a case against the bus driver and his assistant with the Shabagh police about 9:15pm on Tuesday, the police said.
Several hundred university students on Tuesday night took to the streets, damaging and burning vehicles at Shahbagh and in neighbouring areas after the death of Tawhiduzzman, a Chhatra League activist, who along with his friend was returning from a political programme in the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
Courtesy of New Age
