The Islamic University (IU) authorities on Saturday suspended Bangladesh Chhatra League’s (BCL) university unit vice-president Shanjida Chowdhury Ontora and four other activists as they were found involved in torturing and intimidating a fresher at a dormitory.
They were suspended following a High Court order in this regard, an official of IU registrar office said.
The decision was made at an emergency meeting with the university’s student disciplinary committee held on the campus in Kushtia with IU vice-chancellor Professor Shaikh Abdus Salam in the chair.
The expelled students are- Shanjida Chowdhury Ontora of statistics department and her associates Tabassum Islam and Maobiya Jahan of the finance and banking department, Halima Khatun Urmi of the fine arts department, and Israt Jahan Mim of the law department of the university.
Among others, IU pro-vice-chancellor Professor M Mahbubur Rahman, treasurer Professor M Alamgir Hossain Bhuiya, proctor Professor M Shahadat Hossain Azad and acting registrar HM Ali Hasan were present in the meeting.
On February 12 night, a group of BCL activists led by Ontora and her cohorts went to the victim first-year student Fulpori Khatun’s room and assaulted and tortured her.
Ontora, at one stage, forced the victim to get undressed and videoed the incident on her mobile phone.
The BCL leader also threatened that she would make the video viral on social media if the victim discloses the matter to anyone.
The victim lodged a written complaint with the university administration, including the university proctor, student adviser and the hall provost, demanding punishment of those involved in the incident on February 14.
A writ petition was also filed by Gazi Mohammad Mohsin, an alumnus of the university and a lawyer, with the High Court.
The High Court on Wednesday ordered the Islamic University authorities to suspend its five female students who were found involved in the torture and humiliation of the first year student.
The HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil passed the order.
The court also asked the university authorities to remove the provost from the dormitory.
