Teachers demand exemplary punishment in 'gang rape' threat to Ducsu petitioner

The University Teachers' Network (UTN) has demanded exemplary punishment to a student who threatened to gang rape a female peer for filing a writ petition in the High Court centering the upcoming Ducsu election.

The members of UTN made 13 demands to the university administration centering the Ducsu election at a press conference held in front of Madhur Canteen today.

Present at the press conference were DU Professor Dr Gitiara Nasreen, Professor Samina Luthfa, Professor Kamrul Hassan Mamun, Professor Asif Mohammad Shahan.

At the press conference, the UTN stated that just as they observed the Ducsu election 2019, they will also independently and freely play the role of observer in the 9 September election.

A written statement was read by DU teachers Tahmina Akhter and Mosahida Sultana.

The written statements said, "Centering the writ of a candidate in the High Court,.... a student of the Department of Sociology in a Facebook post threatened gang rape of the female petitioner. The threatening student, Ali Hossain, must be given exemplary punishment following due process so that such incidents do not repeat."

The written statement further said, "As the prescribed punishment for violation of any rules is not mentioned anywhere, the code of conduct of the Ducsu election is being violated indiscriminately. Even though such information has been reported, the commission is not taking proper measures."

Their demands also include ensuring a sufficient number of booths according to the proportion of total voters for the Ducsu election, extending the voting time until 5 p.m., making the vote counting process effective and transparent by holding discussions with representatives of all concerned parties.

As preparation for the electoral process, all central decisions regarding the code of conduct and its violations must be taken through a transparent process, and it must be ensured that they are not discriminatory toward any party.

For non-residential students to come to campus safely to cast votes, the number of buses and trips should be increased as needed, measures must be taken so that journalists and social media news collectors follow the code of conduct, any incidents related to sexual harassment must be resolved directly through the university's Anti-Sexual Harassment Cell.

It must be ensured that no discrimination occurs in appointing teachers, officers, and employees for duties in the electoral process, initiatives must be taken to stop cyberbullying, especially against students and teachers of the university through offensive posts and comments, and actions must be taken against such groups or pages.