The students of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) have regained the rights to engage themselves in politics which the university authorities restricted more than four years ago.
The High Court on Monday has stayed the decision of the university authorities restricting politics on the BUET campus. The HC bench of Justice Md Khosruzzaman and Justice KM Zahid Sarwar issued the order following a writ petition.
Now any BUET student can engage himself in politics on campus following the High Court order, lawyers concerned said.
The writ was filed by Imtiaz Rahim Rabbi, a student of BUET and also a leader of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), whose allotment of hall was cancelled recently amid students’ protest against the gathering of some BCL leaders on campus defying ban.
Student politics was banned on the campus after the murder of Abrar Fahad at the Sher-e-Bangla Hall of BUET in 2019. The BCL recently demanded that BUET authorities immediately lift the ban.
The HC bench in its order also issued a rule asking the government to explain as to why the decision of BUET authorities banning politics on campus should not be declared illegal. Secretary of the Home Ministry, Vice-Chancellor of the BUET and its registrar were made respondents to the rule.
Senior lawyer Advocate Shah Manjurul Haque stood for the petitioner in the court while Deputy Attorney General Samrendra Nath Biswas and Assistant Attorney General Abul Kalam Khan Daud represented the state.
Advocate Manjurul said that now there is no bar to continue student politics on campus.
BUET Vice-Chancellor Professor Satya Prasad Majumder said that they have to comply with what the HC order says. “We have to comply with what the HC order says, and we cannot be accused of contempt of court. We are yet to receive the HC order. Once we receive the order, we will go for legal procedures,” he added.
Abrar Fahad, a sophomore of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the BUET, was beaten to death by some rogue BCL activists at Sher-e-Bangla Hall of the university in the early hours on October 7 in 2019.
Later on October 11, the BUET authorities banned student politics on campus. It also issued a notification in this regard.
On July 19 in 2023, the BUET authorities again issued a notice prohibiting students and teachers from participating in politics on campus. The notice was issued following media reports that said some BUET students had got posts in the central committee of Bangladesh Chhtara League, the student wing of the ruling Awami League.
On Thursday night, some BCL leaders including president of the organisation Saddam Hossain entered the BUET campus which sparked anger among a section of the general students and they staged demonstrations on campus. Later, the authorities concerned cancelled the hall allocation of Imtiaz who played a vital role in facilitating the entry of the BCL men.
It was reported that the activists of BNP’s student wing Jatiyatababdi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and Jamaat-e-Islami’s student body Islami Chhatra Shibir were behind the anti-student politics movement in the guise of general students. The JCD and Shibir men engaged in the movement in a bid to create unrest on the BUET campus by misleading the general students.
The students who were in demonstrations on the BUET campus under the banner of ‘general students’ were not disclosing their identities before the media, creating mystery over the motive of the movement.
In such a situation, the BCL on Sunday demanded that BUET authorities immediately lift ban on student politics on campus. The BCL also called for steps to arrange elections to the student union of the university.
