The University Teachers Network on Tuesday called for exemplary punishment of a male student for threatening to gang-rape a female DUCSU election candidate who filed a writ with the High Court centring another candidate.
University teachers Tahmina Akter and Moshahida Sultana read out a written statement to this effect during a press briefing at Dhaka University's Madhur Canteen around 11:30am.
The teachers' group is also demanding 13 reforms from the Dhaka University administration for the election, made its statement around 11:30am.
The threat was made on Facebook on Monday after Aporajeyo 71-Odommo 24 Panela candidate BM Fahmida Alam filed a writ petition with the High Court concerning the upcoming Dhaka University Central Students Union (DUCSU) election.
"It has come to our attention that a student from the sociology department … threatened a female candidate with gang-rape on a Facebook post related to her High Court writ," the statement read.
"Appropriate and exemplary punishment must be meted out
to the student in question … to ensure such an incident never recurs," it added, noting that a lack of clear penalties for code of conduct violations is leading to widespread non-compliance.
"Despite informing the election commission of these violations, they are failing to take appropriate action," the statement continued.
Moreover the group announced that they would act as independent and neutral observers during the upcoming election, as they did during the 2019 DUCSU election.
Other attendees included Professor Giti Ara Nasreen, Professor Samina Lutfah, Professor Kamrul Hasan Mamun, and Professor Asif Mohammad Shahan.
Other demands from the University Teachers Network include:
- Ensuring a sufficient number of polling booths based on the total number of voters
- Extending the voting period until 5pm.
- Discussing the vote-counting process with all relevant parties to ensure it is effective and transparent.
- Guaranteeing that all central decisions related to the code of conduct and its violations are made through a transparent process and are not discriminatory toward any party.
- Ensuring that the appointment of teachers, officials,and staff for election duties is non-discriminatory.
- Taking action against cyberbullying, especially against groups and pages that attack students and teachers with distasteful posts and comments.
- Increasing the number of buses and trips to ensure non-resident students can travel safely to campus to vote.
- Ensuring that journalists and social media news gatherers adhere to the code of conduct.
- Handling all incidents of sexual harassment directly through the university's anti-sexual harassment cell.
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