Rajshahi University has suspended one teacher and upheld the suspension of another on various charges, including mental and sexual harassment of students.
The university also decided to reinstate a student whose studentship was cancelled 10 years ago, allegedly due to his ties with Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and punish three teachers involved in cancelling his studentship.
The decisions were made during the university鈥檚 536th syndicate meeting on February 6, chaired by vice-chancellor Professor Saleh Hasan Naqib, according to a press release issued by the RU public relations office Sunday night.
The press release stated that associate professor of the applied chemistry and chemical engineering department Aneek Krishna Karmakar had been suspended, while the suspension of associate professor of the law department Sadiqul Islam was upheld, following recommendations of review committees investigating complaints from students.
鈥楢n inquiry committee has also been formed to impose final penalties on both teachers under Section 55(3) of the University Act of 1973,鈥� the release read.
Earlier, students had staged protests and submitted written complaints accusing Professor Aneek Krishna Karmakar of unprofessional behaviour and mental and physical harassment, while Professor Sadiqul Islam was accused of sexually harassing and raping female students.
Meanwhile, the university decided to reinstate the studentship of Rafiqul Islam, an applied mathematics student from the 2007-08 academic session, and publish his withheld master鈥檚 results, according to another press release.
鈥楾his decision was made after reviewing the report of the review committee formed to investigate the cancellation of Rafiqul鈥檚 master鈥檚 registration and studentship,鈥� the statement said.
Additionally, the university barred three professors鈥擜bdul Haque, Ali Akbar, and Ashrafuzzaman Khan鈥攆rom exam-related activities for five years due to their involvement in cancelling Rafiqul鈥檚 studentship and unfairly punishing his thesis supervisor retired Professor Shamsul Alam Sarkar.
