A female student of Jahangirnagar University was allegedly sexually assaulted by a hawker in the capital's Shyamoli area while she was walking along a footpath yesterday morning.

The incident happened around 11:50am while the student, aged around 24, was coming out of Indian Visa Centre in Shyamoli after submitting her application.

“I was walking along the footpath. When I reached near Faisal Tower, the accused, Shawon, 25, who sells garments on the footpath, came close to me with indecent gesture whistling…,” the student alleged in a case filed with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station.

When the girl protested, he hurled expletives at her and confronted her again offensively.

At one moment, Shawon's sister-in-law Shumi, 35, who sells tea nearby, rushed in along with other three to four unidentified people.

“They assaulted me by grabbing my hair and tried to sexually harass me again,” the case statement added.

At that time, a student from the same university came to rescue her. Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police arrested Shawon and Shumi.

On April 21, a private university student was allegedly sexually harassed in a running bus on her way to the capital's Uttara. A protest by her fellow students led to the arrest of the accused.