A dispute over a minor motorcycle incident turned into a late-night clash at Dhaka University after a meeting arranged to settle the matter between students of two residential halls descended into violence.
The confrontation broke out at around 12:05am on Thursday, 8 October, in the area around the university’s administrative building. Students and leaders associated with the Bangladesh Chhatra Dal from Masterda Surya Sen Hall and Sergeant Zahurul Haq Hall, along with other students, became involved in the altercation. At least four people were seriously injured.
The injured were identified as Ramzan Ali, a resident student of Surya Sen Hall; Shahriar Leon, member secretary of the Chhatra Dal unit at Zahurul Haq Hall; Saif Ali Shithil, a member of the same hall unit; and Mahfuz Sourav, a student of the Department of Sociology.
They were taken to the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. Ramzan Ali reportedly lost consciousness during the clash and was taken to hospital in a university ambulance.
Dispute began with a motorcycle incident
The confrontation reportedly stemmed from an incident on the afternoon of 5 October. According to those involved, Mahfuz Sourav, a student of Sergeant Zahurul Haq Hall, was riding a motorcycle when he allegedly came close to hitting Ariful Islam Tarek, a member of the convening committee of the Surya Sen Hall Chhatra Dal unit.
Tarek objected to the incident and, according to the account provided, Sourav allegedly slapped him several times. The dispute continued into the following day.
On Tuesday, Tarek and several of his friends reportedly stopped Sourav on the road and questioned him about the incident. Sourav allegedly left his motorcycle behind and fled the scene. Students from Surya Sen Hall later recovered the motorcycle and took it to their hall.
The motorcycle subsequently became the focus of an attempt to settle the dispute. On Wednesday night, students and representatives from both halls, including Zahurul Haq Hall Chhatra Dal member secretary Shahriar Leon, met at Mall Chattar to resolve the matter and arrange the return of the motorcycle.
The meeting, however, failed to produce a peaceful settlement. At one stage, tensions escalated into a chase between the two groups before turning into a physical confrontation.
Both sides make conflicting allegations
Faim Shahriar Sajib, a student of Surya Sen Hall, alleged that members of the Zahurul Haq Hall group attacked them with sticks during the meeting, despite the gathering being arranged to resolve the dispute.
Shahriar Leon rejected the allegation. According to his account, Sourav had apologised for his mistake, but members of the Surya Sen Hall group suddenly attacked them immediately afterwards.
There was also a separate allegation concerning the motorcycle. Sourav’s side claimed that Tarek’s associates had kept the motorcycle and demanded Tk1 lakh in exchange for returning it.
However, when contacted about the original incident on 5 October, Sourav reportedly ended the telephone call without responding to questions about what had happened.
The conflicting accounts mean that several aspects of the dispute, including what triggered the violence during the settlement meeting, remain contested.
University says no written complaint filed
Dhaka University Proctor Israfil Ratan said on Thursday morning that neither side had so far submitted a written complaint to the university administration over the incident.
He said, however, that he had learned that a complaint had been lodged with a police station in connection with the clash.
The incident has raised concerns over how a relatively minor dispute escalated into violence involving students from two university halls. The competing allegations will need to be examined through the relevant administrative and legal processes to establish what happened during the meeting and who was responsible for the escalation.
