RUB protest: Student on hunger strike tries to kill self in public
He was immediately taken to Shahjadpur Upazila Health Complex and his condition has improved now
A Rabindra University Bangladesh student took poison on Sunday while on a hunger strike demanding termination of a teacher who allegedly cut the hair of 14 students.
Shamim, a student of Cultural Heritage and Bangladesh Studies Department brought out a bottle of poison from his pocket around 1 pm during his speech and gulped it in front of the students, said Nazmul Hasan Papon, spokesperson for the protesting students.
He was immediately taken to Shahjadpur Upazila Health Complex and his condition has improved now, he said.
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After the incident students blocked the Bagura-Nagarbari Highway around 1:30 pm which got scattered later as locals attacked them, said Nazmul.
From Friday night students of RUB went on an indefinite hunger strike as the syndicate committee didn't permanently suspend accused professor Farhana Yasmin Baten of the Cultural Heritage and Bangladesh Studies Department.
The syndicate committee held a meeting on Friday which was adjourned without any decision on the incident.
This again has triggered the students to renew their protest until Prof Baten gets terminated.
Meanwhile, Treasurer Abdul Latif said the meeting was adjourned without a decision as the committee didn't receive detail information.
"A decision will be made following the legal procedures in the next syndicate meeting," he said.
On September 26, Farhana instructed an office assistant to trim the hair of 14 first-year students as they were entering examination halls, apparently for ignoring her previous instructions to get the haircuts.
Unable to bear the humiliation, Nazmul Hasan Tuhin, 25, a student of the department, consumed sleeping pills the following day in an attempt to take his own life.
Although she submitted her resignation as department chair, assistant proctor, and member of the proctorial board, Farhana has continued to deny the allegations and claimed the charges against her were all fabricated, as she rejected the request of a few students to defer the exam.
On September 30, the RUB students staged protests demanding the termination of the teacher.
The following day, the High Court asked the RUB VC and registrar to take steps against those involved in the incident and to file a report within a month.
Later in the day, the RUB authorities suspended Farhana from her teaching position as well.
On October 2, following assurance by Education Minister Dipu Moni of launching a probe into the incident, students eased their protest and unlocked the administrative building of the university.
RUB authorities formed a five-member committee led by Professor Layla Ferdous Himel to probe the incident.
