JU students seize 16 buses of Moumita Paribahan following student's complaint of harassment by helper

The students of Jahangirnagar University have seized 16 buses from Moumita Paribahan, in protest against the alleged harassment of a female student of the university by one of the bus helpers of the transport service company.

JU students intercepted 16 buses of Moumita Paribahan bound for Dhaka-Nabinagar at the main gate (Dairy Gate) area of the university on Wednesday (15 May) morning.

Meanwhile, bus owners have alleged that students snatched mobile phones and wallets with cash from the drivers and helpers of the seized buses.

Earlier on Tuesday, a student of the 51st batch of the university was allegedly assaulted by the helper of a Moumita Paribahan bus in Radio Colony area. She was on her way back to the university from Savar. She lodged a written complaint to the university proctor regarding this on Wednesday.

In the complaint, the victim wrote: "I was coming to the campus by Moumita bus after getting tuition from Bank Town around 6:30pm on Tuesday. When I paid the bus fare, the helper said that he had no change and would give it later. When the bus got close to Radio Colony, the helper said that the bus would not go further. All the passengers of the bus then got down and left. When I asked the helper to return the change, the helper said, let's take you to Dhaka.

"At that time, there were only three people on the bus. Bus driver, helper and one with them. As the driver did not stop the bus, being scared, I jumped off the bus and got serious injuries in my knee.

"I was mentally disturbed after this incident. When I informed my batchmates, they brought me to the hospital."

Sohel Rana, a friend of the victim, said, "A terrible incident happened with my friend yesterday. In protest, we stopped the bus of Maumita Paribahan. Later, We, along with the university proctor and the police of Ashulia police station went to the spot. But surprisingly, despite all the CCTV footage, no footage of the period from 6.10 to 6.18 was found. We demand a fair trial of this incident."

In this regard, Assistant Proctor Monir Uddin Shikder said, "We visited the spot along with the police of Ashulia police station and the students. But we could not find any incident by checking the CCTV. We are looking at the matter very seriously. On behalf of the university, security officer Sudipta Shaheen will file the case as the plaintiff."

"The buses will remain here until the incident is resolved," he added.

Regarding snatching mobile phones by the students, he admitted that some of the students did this in excitement, but these were later returned.

"Later, they returned those mobiles in my presence within an hour," the assistant proctor said.

University  Proctor Professor Dr Alamgir Kabir said they informed the bus authority to identify the helper and driver of the bus and inform them immediately.

"Police are also trying to identify the culprits," he said.