JU Chhatra League under fire over crime spree on campus

Various crimes such as robbery, harassment of women and assaults have become distressingly common within the confines of Jahangirnagar University's campus. The spotlight often falls on leaders and activists affiliated with Chhatra League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League, in connection with most of these offences.

Despite promises of disciplinary measures from the university administration, concrete actions are rare. This perceived leniency has emboldened some Chhatra League leaders to act with increasing impunity, exacerbating the situation.

Allegations surfaced on Saturday night that Mustafizur Rahman, a student of international relations and a resident of Mir Mosharraf Hossain Hall, and an outsider, Mamun, 45, raped a woman on campus keeping her husband confined in a room of the dorm. 

Mustafizur holds the position of international affairs secretary in Chhatra League's JU unit, and reports suggest that certain members of the organization aided the perpetrators in fleeing the area.

Students told Dhaka Tribune that on-campus crimes were on the rise due to the impunity perpetrators enjoyed. Not stopping the “guestroom culture” and not ensuring the punishment of criminals had been behind the rape, they said.

Harassment of women

In the last nine years, there have been more than 10 cases of physical harassment of teachers, students and outsiders at JU, according to university sources. In all the cases it is Chhatra League men who stand accused of committing these crimes.

Despite complaints to the university administration, most of the time they go unpunished. 

In August last year, two leaders and activists of the university unit of Chhatra League were accused of robbing an assistant professor of Noakhali Science and Technology University (NSTU) on the JU campus. 

In June 2022, two Chhatra League activists were accused of beating up a student of the Department of Environmental Sciences of the university and assaulting another female student.

In September 2018, the university suspended five Chhatra League members for assaulting a student and beating up a journalist for trying to prevent a robbery.

Later, in November of the same year, three members of Chhatra League were expelled and two suspended for two years for threatening to beat up a student and rape his girlfriend and snatching her earrings after they did not pay them extortion money.

In January 2016, the university ordered three Chhatra League activists to show cause following the assault of a teacher who had stopped them from teasing a woman.

On Pohela Boishakh in 2015, the JU authorities expelled five students of the university–all reportedly involved with Chhatra League–for sexually harassing, robbing and beating a female student belonging to an ethnic group.

Extortion and assault

In July last year, JU Chhatra League vice presidents Abdullah Al Faruk Imran, Shah Poran and Hasan Mahmud Farid, joint general secretaries Delwar Hossain and Lenin Mahbub, and Deputy Student Scholarship Affairs Secretary Al-Raji Sarkar were accused of holding up 24 legunas (a locally made five-wheeler) and demanding Tk25 from each leguna driver operating on the Ashulia route.

On May 1 of the same year, JU Chhatra League Deputy Office Secretary Hasibur Rahman allegedly brought an employee of a cable television business to campus and beat him up after its owner refused to pay him Tk5 lakh.

On May 5, JU Chhatra League Vice President Sabbir Hossain and Organizing Secretary Mehdi Hasan were accused of beating up a shopkeeper and his employee at Islamnagar Bazar near the university.

A second-year student, Sayem Hasan, did not go to his dorm “guest room” on May 16 last year after ear surgery. He was later called to the political block of Shaheed Salam-Barkat Hall and beaten up by leaders of Chhatra League. 

The next night, several leaders of the organization told him to go to the “guest room” and thrashed him at gunpoint and tried to frame him for drug possession. 

Sayem submitted a complaint to the proctor on May 22 and later filed a case in a court accusing eight Chhatra League leaders of the dorm.

In July, an ambulance hit a professor’s car on the Dhaka-Aricha highway, prompting him to allegedly have the vehicle held up with the help of some Chhatra League activists from his department.

He later turned over the ambulance to university security three days later, but not before taking Tk75,000 in compensation.

There were three more allegations against Chhatra League leaders and activists of harassing journalists last year, other than at least 30 crimes involving extortion, assault, robbery, land grabbing and ragging. 

In most of these cases the accused individuals got off scot-free. The administration meted out punishments in some instances but did not implement them. Moreover, many continued to reside in their dorms despite the university expelling them.

‘Torture cell’

Arman Khan Jubo, the younger brother of Al-Nahean Khan Joy, former president of Chhatra League’s central committee, has continued to stay in room No 126 Mowlana Bhashani Hall although he is not a student of the university anymore. 

Jubo was a Bangla student (41st batch) from the 2011-12 session, and his classmates left the campus several years ago.

Students complained that the room had been turned into a "torture cell," where Jubo beat up people. Drug dealing also took place in the room, they alleged.

In 2018, Joy became president of Chhatra League, and in 2019 Jubo began to establish his dominance on campus and surrounding areas using his brother’s name, which continues to this day, according to sources. 

He reportedly uses JU Chhatra League’s name in his misdeeds and is close to the unit’s president, Aktaruzzaman Sohel.

In September, Jubo was accused of assaulting Jahid Hasan Emon, an IT student (46th batch) and the deputy IT affairs secretary of the JU unit of Chhatra League. 

Emon said Jubo had taken him to the room and beaten him up with locally made weapons. Jubo and his associates had poured liquor on him and cheered.

Jubo stands accused of torturing many others in his dorm room. Several within Chhatra League said anyone who went against Jubo’s wishes, including cable and internet businessmen as well as drug dealers, would be brought to room 126 and beaten up.

The university authorities are not unaware of these actions but have taken no steps to stop them, which is why Jubo can still occupy the room enjoying a certain kind of immunity. 

The proctor’s office had received countless complaints, but the administration was not ensuring punishment for the perpetrators, which created opportunities for more crimes, said Sohagi Samia, organizer of the university’s Students' Front unit.

“There has been a reign of terror at this university for a long time. It did not happen in a day. What Mustafiz did is a result of many days. A fresher has to go through physical and mental torture from the very first day on campus. The result of that is Mustafiz–today who is a rapist. The university administration does not want to root out the problem, it rather wants to keep it alive.”

Alif Mahmud, convenor of the university's Students’ Union unit, claimed the JU authorities wanted to keep the rapists and oppressors unpunished.

“Students are not safe on campus today. The reason why the authorities cannot provide a safe campus is because they do not ensure justice. Freshers living in various dorms have filed numerous complaints with the authorities about ragging and harassment but to no avail,” Alif added.

Chhatra League’s response

“Criminals have no place in Chhatra League,” JU Chhatra League President Aktaruzzaman Sohel said.

“As it is a large student organization, it is impossible to keep tabs on every member at all times. Some dishonest individuals take advantage of this and get involved in crimes, damaging our reputation in the process. They infiltrate the organization mainly to achieve their own interests.”

Aktaruzzaman went on to say that Chhatra League would continue to try to help every leader and activist grow in a more disciplined manner through counselling and meetings in the future.

Meanwhile, JU acting proctor ASM Firoz Ul Hasan said the proctorial body was always working to maintain student discipline. 

“The university also takes action following its laws. If there is a complaint against anyone, we investigate it and take action.”