Free rein and a poor witness

by Mohammad Yousuf

It was quarter past three in the afternoon. Some young men in scattered small groups were chatting in front of the Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka University. It looked like they, I guess students called 'political students', were carefully searching for something.

Some of their faces seemed familiar to me; they belong to the ruling Awami League's student wing.

My friends and I were almost at the gate of the institute on our way to canteen for lunch.

All of a sudden, we heard a student in white shirt, black pants and sneakers was screaming saying, "hi bhai, hi bhai what did I do...hi bhai, hi bhai...." Around one dozen young men were punching and kicking him indiscriminately.

He was beaten for five minutes and then the attackers left the place in a group. And the victim was rolling on the field and crying. His white shirt turned red with blood. His head was bleeding badly.

An uneasy calm gripped the area for a while. Nobody dared to seek help for the blood-soaked student or chase the attackers.

My friends and I and others are just witness, poor scared witness in the most prestigious educational institution of this Sonar Bangla!!

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