Students of 38 colleges were involved in clashes in Dhaka.

Students from 35 colleges in the capital have attacked and vandalized Dhaka National Medical College Institute Hospital, Government Shaheed Suhrawardy College and Kabi Nazrul Government College in the wake of the death of a student at Dr. Mahbubur Rahman Molla College. Twenty people, including journalists, were injured in the incident. The clashes took place in several phases since Sunday afternoon.

Eyewitnesses said that after 1 pm today, students from about 35 colleges in the capital blocked the front gate of the National Medical College Hospital, vandalized the gate and nameplate and entered inside. Later, they entered the Government Shaheed Suhrawardy College and attacked and vandalized. At that time, when some students from the direction of Suhrawardy and Kabi Nazrul Colleges came forward with sticks, the protesting students chased them and went towards Suhrawardy College. At that time, students were injured by brickbats thrown from both sides.

It is learned that Dr. Abhijit Halder, a student of Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College, was admitted to Dhaka National Medical College Institute Hospital on the morning of November 16. He died while undergoing treatment at the hospital on November 18. Abhijit was a student of HSC 24 batch of Dr. Mahbubur Rahman Mollah College.

The students blockaded the hospital on November 20 and 21 over his death. They alleged that on those two days, students of Kabi Nazrul and Suhrawardy Colleges and Chhatra Dal leaders and activists of the two colleges, taking the side of National Medical, attacked them.

The aggrieved students said, “Abhijit was killed by the hospital authorities with wrong treatment. We came to seek justice. Why did Chhatra Dal beat us? We want justice. We, students from all other colleges, have come to protest in this protest. Today at noon, students from about 35 colleges gathered in front of the National Medical College as part of the previously announced “Super Sunday” program. Students from Mahbubur Rahman Molla College and other colleges joined the movement in a Facebook group called “United College of Bangladesh.”

The colleges that participated in the movement are Dr. Mahbubur Rahman Molla College, Dhaka College, Dhaka Ideal College, City College, Giasuddin College, Government Tolaram College, Imperial College, Borhanuddin College, Vigyan College, Dhania College, Lalbagh Government College, Udayan College, Adamjee, Notre Dame, Rajarbagh College, Noor Mohammad, Munshi Abdur Rouf College, Siddheshwari College, Green Line Polytechnic, Dhaka Polytechnic, Mahbubur Rahman Institute of Science and Technology, Dhaka Donia College, and various colleges in the capital participated.

Students of Dr. Mahbubur Rahman Molla College said that Abhijit, a student of the college, died due to wrong treatment at the National Medical College Hospital. In protest, when the students came to protest peacefully, the Chhatra Dal leaders and activists of Kabi Nazrul Government College and Government Shaheed Suhrawardy College attacked them. As a result, students from 35 colleges unitedly held this program.

A friend of Abhijit said, “Why were we attacked? We came here and there was no one to talk to. Everyone ran away. If there was someone to talk to, we could have left and stated our demands. But there is not even a guard. We demand that the license of the accused doctor be canceled and brought under the law. In addition, police action must be taken against those who attacked us.”

Kawsar Hossain, the general secretary of Chhatra Dal at Kabi Nazrul College, said that Chhatra Dal had no involvement in the attack on the students. He said, “We are students. On behalf of the students. We did not attack.”

Regarding the vandalism of the college, Tariqul Islam, a teacher in the Islamic Studies Department of Suhrawardy College, said, “I explained it to them once. Later, they are coming back with a team. They took many computers and broke them. They took the BNCC rifle. They vandalized 17 departments. They broke a teacher’s car and 4 motorcycles.

Suhrawardy College Vice Principal Dr. Farida Yasmin said, ‘Yesterday, the principal of that college and our principal came to an agreement. We were assured that nothing like this would happen. But still the attack happened. The entire college was attacked. Even my room was broken into.’

Suhrawardy College Principal Professor Dr. Kakoli Mukhopadhyay said, ‘There was an exam today. I spoke to the principal of Dr. Mahbubur Rahman Molla College until last night. They told us that there would be no problem. But today at around 1:15 pm, I saw on CCTV that a lot of children had come. They broke the gate and entered. They vandalized at will. They vandalized cars. They left the gas line open.’

She also said, ‘The students do not have mark sheets, notebooks, laptops. I informed Dhaka University. The vice-chancellor said to send applications. I could not send them even for vandalism. Can these be students? Students cannot do so much vandalism.’

Lalbagh Zone DC Jasim Uddin said, ‘On the 18th, a student of Mahbubur Rahman College died. We came to know that he died of dengue. Last Wednesday, the college students came to the hospital. An investigation committee was formed in this incident. But last Thursday, the students came again in large numbers. The students claim that the student died due to negligence. The hospital authorities have repeatedly said that they will investigate with the students and law enforcement agencies.’

He also said, ‘Today, the student representative, the father of the deceased student, was supposed to come to the hospital. There was a meeting today. But we came to know that they did not come. This morning, the students came to the hospital again. They came in large numbers from Jatrabari. We have been trying to convince them since this morning. Finally, we increased the number and were able to convince them in the afternoon. They left.’

Dhaka National Medical College Director Brigadier General (Retd) Dr. Iffat Ara said, “The students’ allegations that they died due to wrong treatment are completely baseless. We have sat with the college students and the families of the deceased students. An investigation committee has also been formed.”

When asked how Kabi Nazrul and Suhrawardy College got involved, he said, “We don’t know how they came. We didn’t ask them for any help. We didn’t even ask them to come.”

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