Four students of Begum Rokeya University in Rangpur reportedly fell ill on Monday as they began indefinite hunger strike on Sunday, demanding a clear roadmap for the Central Students’ Union election at the institution.
Two of the sick students, Zahid Hasan Joy, belonging to the 16th batch of the sociology department, and Mahidul Islam Mahid, a 14th batch student of disaster management, were taken to Rangpur Community Medical College Hospital in critical condition, said a protesting student, Ashiqur Rahman.
The other two sick students are Rummanul Islam Raj, belonging to the 14th batch of mass communication and journalism department, and Arman Hossain of the mathematics department.
The university administration offered to send them to hospital by ambulance, but they refused and took intravenous saline instead on the spot where they are staging the hunger strike on the campus.
On Monday morning, the students began to feel unwell, and by about noon, the condition of Zahid and Mahidul deteriorated, leading to their hospitalisation.
Speaking to journalists, vice-chancellor Shaukat Ali said, ‘We hope to hold the student union elections by October.’
He, along with registrar Harun-or-Rashid, student adviser Elias Pramanik, and some other teachers, met the protesting students about noon, urging them to end the hunger strike.
The protesting students, however, refused to end the hunger strike.
In a Facebook post on Monday, the vice-chancellor stated, ‘…I have spoken with the University Grants Commission, and they assured me that a meeting would be held today. If the meeting takes place, the process for vetting the law will be completed. Then it will be sent to the president for gazette notification.’Â
He urged students to allow a few days for these procedures to be completed.
A group of students began the hunger strike on Sunday morning at the north gate of the university’s administrative building, demanding immediate announcement and implementation of the student union elections by September 25.