HC stays decision banning student politics in BUET

The High Court has stayed the decision banning student politics in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

An HC bench comprising Justice Md Khasruzzaman and Justice KM Zahid Sarwar Kajol passed the order on Monday (April 1) along with a ruling.

The HC rule asked to know why the decision banning student politics in BUET would not be declared illegal.

The VC and registrar of BUET and secretary to the education ministry have been asked to respond to the ruling.

The HC passed the order after the preliminary hearing of a writ petition filed by Imtiaz Rabi, a student and Chhatra League leader who was recently expelled from a hall of BUET.

Senior lawyer Shah Manzrul Haque represented the petitioner during the hearing while Deputy Attorney General Samarendra Nath Biswas and Assistant Attorney General Abul Kalam Khan Daud appeared for the state.

Student politics was banned on the BUET campus in the face of protests by the general students after the tragic death of Abrar Farhad, a student of the university, who was brutally beaten to death by senior Chhatra League leaders and activists in 2019.

Students of the university launched a movement again from Friday after Chhatra League leaders entered the BUET campus on Thursday night.

Later on Friday afternoon, the students of the country’s top engineering university held a press conference in front of BUET Shaheed Minar. They staged a sit-in in front of the office of the director of student welfare (DSW) of the university till evening.

Later that night, Imtiaz Hossain Rahim's hall seat was canceled in a notice signed by BUET Registrar Professor Forkan Uddin. Besides, a committee was formed to investigate the matter and asked to submit the investigation report by April 8.