Bangladesh Chhatra League

Murder of Biswajit Das

Biswajit Das, a 24-year-old tailor in Dhaka, Bangladesh, was murdered on 9 December 2012 by members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League who mistook Das for an opposition supporter. Das was chased and attacked with machetes, iron bars, and hockey sticks.^[6] He was taken to Mitford Hospital, where he shortly died of his wounds.^[7] Twenty-one BCL activists were found guilty of murder on 18 December 2013. Eight were sentenced to death and thirteen were sentenced to life in prison.^[8] Only eight of the twenty-one defendants were in custody at the time of the sentence, with the remaining thirteen tried in absentia.^[9][10]

2018 conflicts

In March 2018, a student of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) suffered a bullet wound during a clash between two BCL factions.^[11] Reportedly, two factions of the SUST unit of BCL, led by vice-presidents of the unit, had battled over establishing supremacy on the campus. A group of BCL men, led by Akando and colleagues, attacked another man in a restaurant near the university. The man responded with a gunshot which injured another student.^[11]

In July 2018, protests and counter-violence erupted at various universities, particularly Rajshahi University, over the quota reform movement, which sought to change the quota system that allocated 56% of Bangladesh government jobs to specific classes. In a protest procession on 2 July 2018, quota-reform movement leader Toriqul Islam and 15 others were attacked with sticks, bamboo poles, a dagger and a hammer. Islam's leg was broken as a result of the attack. A correspondent from The Daily Star filmed the incident and the newspaper reported that it had identified eleven of the attackers, stating that ten were members of the BCL.^[12][13] Video and photos of the attack circulated on social media, prompting criticism over police and university administration inaction.^[12]