DU students beaten up for 'protesting harassment', four arrested

A group of traders from Dhaka New Market's Chandni Chawk allegedly attacked a group of Dhaka University (DU) students on Monday night, accusing them of theft.

Two students were injured in the attack that occurred at 8:30 pm and were admitted to Shahid Buddhijibe Dr Muhammad Mortaza Medical Centre of the university.

The injured students have been identified as Shahedul Islam, student of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, and Ayazur Rahman, student of the Institute of Social Welfare and Research. Both are from the 2023-24 academic session.

According to Shahedul Islam, he and some friends, including a female student, had gone to the market to buy clothes. During a price negotiation, some shopkeepers allegedly harassed the female student with obscene language. When Shahedul and his friends protested the harassment, a group of around 30 traders attacked them.

Following the incident, a group of DU students later gathered in front of the New Market Police Station, demanding the arrest and punishment of the perpetrators and the market was shut down immediately.

Shahedul Islam has filed a case against five identified shopkeepers - Nazrul Islam (39), Md Cunnu (45), Afzal Hossain (30), Nazmul Hossain (30), and Masud (32) - along with 50-60 unidentified individuals.

So far, police have arrested four of the accused and said efforts are ongoing to identify and arrest others using CCTV footage.

A.K.M. Fazlul Haque, operation officer of New Market Police Station, said, "We have recovered the CCTV footage of the incident and are working to identify and arrest all involved."

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