Students at Jahangirnagar University caught an outsider red-handed while he was secretly recording female students and handed him over to the police. According to students, the man had been secretly recording such videos on campus for the past six months.
The incident took place at around 2:00 am on Monday night at the university's Teacher-Student Centre (TSC). The accused, Riaz Ahmed, lives in Uttar Baherchar in Keraniganj.
Several eyewitnesses and victims said that students had gathered at the Selim Al Deen Muktamanch to watch the FIFA World Cup match between Brazil and Japan.
After the match, several female students went to the women's washroom at the TSC. One student became suspicious after noticing that a man had entered the women's washroom and hurriedly come back out.
When the female students left the washroom, they stopped the man and questioned him, but he denied any wrongdoing.
They then searched his mobile phone and discovered that he had recorded videos through a small hole in the washroom door.
According to the students, Riaz's phone gallery contained similar sensitive videos of female students recorded on campus from January this year until now. Enraged by the discovery, several students assaulted him.
Members of the university's security department rescued him from the scene and took him to the university's Prantik Gate.
Police from Ashulia police station arrived at the gate. Shortly afterwards, many students also gathered there, but the police drove the accused away without obtaining permission from the university authorities.
The university's proctor later contacted the police by telephone and asked them to bring him back to the campus.
At around 5:00 am, the authorities took the accused to the university's security office. The victims then submitted written complaints and went to Ashulia police station to file a case.
Mohammad Shimanto, a student at the Institute of Comparative Literature and Culture who witnessed the incident said, "When we checked Riaz's phone, we found around 140 videos."
Riaz Ahmed said, "I came to the university because I heard that the World Cup match was being shown on a big screen. Later, when I went towards the washroom, one of my friends took my phone and went to record the video. I followed him, but he ran away."
When asked how videos from six months back had ended up on his phone, he said, "I had visited the campus before. I recorded some videos during those visits."
The university's Proctor, Professor AKM Rashidul Alam, said, "This is an extremely disgraceful incident. An outsider had been secretly recording female students. We have detained him and handed him over to the police. We will also file a case."
Mohammad Azgar Hossain, investigation inspector at Ashulia police station, told Prothom Alo, "We have received a written complaint. We will register a case and take further action following the investigation."
