Dhaka University authorities on Wednesday suspended five security guards after leaders of the banned Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League whose activities are currently banned, admitted to locking the gates of five academic buildings on campus.
The incident became public early Wednesday when DU BCL unit president Mazharul Kabir Shayan and others acknowledged on Facebook that they had locked the buildings.
The suspended guards are Shah Alam and Md Selim of the Institute of Education and Research, Shafiqul Islam of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, Ali Ahmed from the Curzon Hall gate, and Sangram Hossain, posted at the faculty of fine arts gate.
Small white notices, reading 鈥楲ockdown BCL鈥�, were found attached to the chains and locks.
Although DU鈥檚 academic buildings normally remain closed at night, guards are assigned to each gate. The rear gate of IER has been closed for a long time, while the middle gate of fine arts and the High Court鈥搒ide gate of Curzon Hall are opened occasionally.
Confirming the suspensions, DU proctor Professor Saifuddin Ahmed said that the action was temporary.
鈥極ur assistant proctors have visited the sites and are checking whether CCTV cameras were installed there. No mercy will be shown in such incidents,鈥� he said.
The incident comes days after the Awami League announced a 鈥楧haka Lockdown鈥� on social media for Thursday, when the International Crimes Tribunal is set to schedule the verdict in a crimes against humanity case against the party president and ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina over atrocities during the July uprising.
Several buses have been torched in Dhaka and other districts since Monday amid a series of crude bomb blasts that have heightened public fear.
