8 Dhaka University students suspended over mob lynching of Tofazzal

The university administration also revokes their residential accommodations

Eight students suspected of lynching Tofazzal Hossain at the institution’s Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall have been suspended.

The authorities also cancelled the accommodation of those students at the halls of residence, according to a statement sent by the university’s spokesperson Md Rafiqul Islam on Saturday.

Prof D Shah Md Masum, the provost of Fazlul Huq hall, has been replaced by Md Elias Al-Mamun, professor of the university’s Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, the statement read.

A case has also been filed at Shahbagh Police Station. The accused are:

• 2018-19 physics student and former Chhatra League leader Jalal Ahmed
• Ahsan Ullah, another student of the same academic year and Chhatra League leader,
• 2020-21 geography student Al Hossain Sazzad
• 2021-22 environment student Sumon Mia,
• Nutrition and food institute's Muttakin Sakin Shah,
• Oceanography student Wazibul Alam,
• Botany’s Firoz Kabir and
• Physics' Abdus Samad

Police have arrested six of them while Firoz and Samad are at large.

Tofazzal, a man believed to have been living with mental disorders, was attacked by the mob of students at the guest room of the residential hall last Wednesday.

Several students took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital at midnight, where the doctor declared him dead.

A video of the beating and his attackers feeding him before the extrajudicial killing went viral to trigger outrage on social media.

Tofazzal’s cousin Asma Akhter Tania, upon hearing of his detention, had rung a DU student and requested him to let go of him, citing his mental disorder.

"But they didn't listen to me," she said.