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Bangladesh Awami League has condemned the lynching of former Chhatra League leader Shamim Ahmed at Jahangirnagar University (JU).
The party also demanded the arrest and speedy trial of those involved in the murder.
AL made this demand through a post on the party's verified Facebook page on Thursday (September 19).
The post reads, “Shamim Ahmed, the former leader of Chhatra League was publicly beaten to death in Jahangirnagar University by some outsiders, who are all involved in Chhatra Dal politics. How can such an incident happen in front of the university administration? We strongly condemn this killing and at the same time demand the arrest of all those involved after watching the video footage.
A murder also took place in Dhaka University, one person was beaten to death in the same way. We want justice for all killings and torture. Anarchy cannot continue like this in the country”.
Meanwhile, protests escalated across the JU campus demanding justice over the death and stopping ‘mob justice’.
A group of students brought out a procession on the campus at about 1:30am, demanding justice and punishment for those responsible for the killing.
The Student Movement Against Discrimination also announced a demonstration protesting at the killing.
Shamim Ahmed alias Shamim Molla—a former leader of Jahangirnagar University unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of Awami League, was beaten to death by students of the university on the campus on Wednesday night.
He was a 39th batch student of the university’s history department used to reside at a village adjacent to the university campus.
Shamim breathed his last at about 11:50pm at Gonoshasthaya Hospital in Savar, around two hours after being beaten up by students on the campus, said police.
He was the organising secretary of the Jewel-Chanchal committee of JU BCL.
Earlier at about 9:30pm on the day, a group of students beat Shamim severely at the Joy Bangla gate of the campus over the charge of allegedly leading an attack on anti-quota protesters in front of JU vice-chancellor’s residence on July 15.
Security officials in charge in the area said that Shamim was later, taken to the office of the university proctor aiming to ‘produce him before justice’.
The students also alleged that Shamim was involved in drug dealing, land grabbing, and extortion on the campus and in the nearby areas.
Witnesses said that Shamim was beaten brutally with wooden sticks a second time once JU proctor AKM Rashidul Alam ‘forced’ to open the lock of the room—where Shamim was kept confined.
A team of Ashulia Police Station rescued Shamim at about 10:30pm after lodging a case against him under section 22, 26, 41, 42 of the Code of Criminal Procedure amid ‘students’ demand’.
Quoting a duty doctor of Gonoshasthaya Hospital, officer in-charge of Ashulia Police Station Abu Bakor Siddiqui said, ‘Shamim died on the way to the hospital.’
However, JU proctor AKM Rashidul Alam termed it as an ‘unnatural death’.
‘Shamim got on the police van on his own and it is hard to believe that he lost his life on the way to hospital,’ the proctor claimed.
He also declined the allegation of allowing a mob to beat Shamim at his office.
JU vice-chancellor Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan is yet to make any comments over the death.
