Chhatra Dal calls for investigating 'campus violence and infiltration’ by Chhatra Shibir

It alleges that many Shibir activists were involved in a “steamroller of torture” under the Awami League regime

The Jatiotabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD)'s Dhaka University unit has demanded punishment for Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) members accused of infiltrating the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) and carrying out violence against general students during the previous Awami League regime.

It submitted a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor (VC) Professor ABM Obaidul Islam on Tuesday afternoon.

A delegation led by the university's JCD unit President Ganesh Chandra Roy Sahos and General Secretary Nahiduzzaman Shipon met the VC at his office to formally lodge the complaint.

The JCD is the student wing of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is currently part of the ruling coalition.

The BCL is the student wing of the Awami League, which was banned by the interim government following the Aug 5, 2024 Uprising due to its involvement in alleged terrorist activities.

Shibir, the student front of Jamaat-e-Islami, has only recently begun operating publicly on university campuses after remaining underground for over a decade.

In the memorandum, the JCD claimed that many students have recently taken to social media and other platforms to describe harrowing incidents of torture in residential halls.

According to these accounts, individuals who are now identifying as ICS activists were previously prominent members of the Chhatra League who operated the infamous “Guestroom” and “Gonoroom” (mass room) culture.

“Innocent students were subjected to a 'steamroller of torture' by the now-banned BCL. We have received significant allegations that various levels of Chhatra Shibir activists were involved in these acts of repression,” the memorandum stated.

The JCD alleged that these individuals changed their "shells" after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government to join Shibir, and are now using their new identities to establish a new form of "occupancy politics" on campus.

The JCD further accused Shibir of engaging in "secret politics" and spreading rumours against it.

They claimed that those who were once part of the BCL’s violent machinery are now trying to shift the blame for past atrocities onto the JCD.

“If those involved in student oppression are not brought to justice, they will continue to pollute the political environment of the campus,” the JCD warned.

Tensions between the two student groups have already led to physical clashes in Chattogram.