JU student goes missing leaving suicide note, classmates lock department with 7-point demand
Photo: Collected
Students have padlocked the gate of the Department of Geological Sciences at Jahangirnagar University (JU), alleging academic harassment and non-cooperation by teachers after a classmate went missing. The student of the department who went missing after writing a suicide note is Kazi Md Mohaiminul Islam. His classmates have put forward a 7-point demand, one of which is that he be found within 12 hours.
Coming out of the proctor’s office, the students locked the Department of Geological Sciences around 1:30am on Monday (12 October), that is, in the first hours of the day. They also announced that the lock would not be opened until their demands are met.
The 50th-batch student is a resident of JU’s Mir Mosharraf Hossain Hall; he lived in Room 110 of the hall’s A block.
According to university administration sources, at 3:08pm on Sunday (11 October), that is, yesterday, Mohaiminul boarded the university’s Dhaka-bound BRTC bus in front of Mir Mosharraf Hossain Hall. He is later reported to have got off at Katabon in Dhaka. There has been no trace of him since. The university administration has filed a general diary (GD) with Savar Police Station over the matter, and Savar and Ashulia police stations are working together.
His classmates allege that Mohaiminul failed a course in his undergraduate finals, and that he had since spent a long time in hardship and uncertainty over a special examination. They say that even after completing the necessary administrative procedures, he could not sit the special examination on time. He was supposed to take his master’s examinations with his batch, but that too became uncertain. Repeated appeals to teachers to resolve the matter bore no fruit. At the very last moment, the department said it was not possible to hold the examination, leaving him mentally devastated, which is clearly reflected in his suicide note.
In the note, left in his room, Mohaiminul expressed intense anger at the teachers, writing, ‘This may be my last message. I have no option other than death. Because they have pushed me in this direction… After six months of drama, they have pushed me to the brink of death.’ In another note, he suggested that his younger brother be sent to Turkey, and also left an account of money he had borrowed from friends along with instructions for repaying it.
Centring on a classmate’s disappearance and the blame placed on teachers, the students have put forward a 7-point demand. These are: finding Mohaiminul within 12 hours; forming a probe committee to identify those responsible; the resignation of the department’s chairman, Prof Hossain Mohammad Sayem, and student adviser Prof Abu Sadat Mohammad Sham; re-evaluation of the answer scripts of the course concerned; an end to the harassment of any student or batch; ensuring teachers’ presence on campus; making the student union effective; and introducing a system of teacher evaluation.
Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Md Nurul Islam said he is overseeing the overall rescue efforts while keeping in regular contact with the Dhaka district police and the Detective Branch (DB) of police. He also assured that the necessary steps would be taken regarding Mohaiminul’s examination. In addition, the university’s public relations office said in a press release that a committee has been formed to investigate the allegations raised in the note.
