The authorities of United International University withdrew the expulsion notice it had earlier issued to its 26 students allegedly for participating in the July uprising past year.
The withdrawal notice, albeit with conditions attached, came on Saturday evening after the students of the university along with fellows from other private universities blocked a road in Dhaka city for over nine hours on the day.
The students blocked the capital’s Natun Bazar road from about 8:30am and withdrawn at about 6:00pm, demanding unconditional withdrawal of expulsion of the 26 students.
The blockade halted vehicular movement on the road, creating severe traffic congestion and public suffering in the nearby areas, including Rampura, Badda and Pragati Sarani.
The police at about 11:00am charged batons to disperse the protesters leaving at least 10 students injured, according to the protesting students.
They, however, regrouped again and continued the blockade.
A protesting UIU student Musfiqur Rahman told New Age that the university authority expelled 26 students on June 3 for organising a protest earlier pressing for reforms in the university.
The protesting students earlier went to the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh six times but failed to get a solution and so finally took to the streets, said Musfiqur.
The demands of the protesting students also included, punishment of all those involved in expelling the students after fair investigation; implementation of the reform demands; formation of an independent reform commission for private universities; and scrapping 15 per cent tax imposed on private universities.
Vatara police officer-in-charge Md Rakibul Hasan claimed that police did not charge batons.
A scuffle broke out between the police and the protesters as they tried to remove them from the road, said a Dhaka Metropolitan Police press release.
An expelled UIU student Salman Bari Rizal told media that they would go for fast unto death on Sunday if the expulsion order was not withdrawn by 8:00pm Saturday.
On Saturday evening, the UIU administration issued a notice, signed by its registrar Zulfiqur Rahman, withdrawing the expulsions with conditions.
‘Some of these students (who submitted appeals of applications) were instead awarded with lesser level of punishment such as “suspended expulsion”, which means they will be allowed to continue with their classes from the current Spring 2025 trimester but any future violation of the UIU Code of Conduct on their part will lead to their permanent expulsion; and the others were given expulsion for two trimesters (Spring 2025 and Summer 2025), after which they will be allowed to resume their classes from Fall 2025 plus suspended expulsion meaning any future violation of the UIU Code of Conduct on their part will lead to their permanent expulsion,’ read the notice.
After the notice, Salman Bari Rizal at about 9:30pm said that protesting students were yet to take decision about their protest programmes for Sunday.
Meanwhile, private university units of Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Socialist Students’ Front and Jagannath University unit of Bangladesh Democratic Students’ Council issued separate statements condemning the police action and demanding withdrawal of the expulsion order.
Source: Newage