Prof Neem Chandra Bhowmik

Prof Neem Chandra Bhowmik, chairman of Applied Physics Department of Dhaka University (DU) and an accused in two cases filed in connection with the August violence on Dhaka University (DU) campus, was sent to jail yesterday after he surrendered before a Dhaka court.
Meanwhile, a Rajshahi court framed charges against 14 people including two Rajshahi University (RU) professors for violating the Emergency Power Rules and torching a vehicle belonging to the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) during the violence on RU campus in August.
Neem, who is sick, was given first class division in jail and the court ordered the jail authorities to ensure his proper treatment if necessary.
Metropolitan Magistrate SM Ferdous Alam gave the order after Neem along with his lawyers appeared before the court at 10:30am in connection with the cases filed with Shahbagh Police Station in August.
On September 9, police brought charges against four teachers and 15 students of DU for instigating violent protests on the university campus as well as in adjacent areas including Shahbagh.
On September 13, the same court accepted the charge sheets of the cases and issued arrest warrants against Prof Neem and Prof Sadrul Amin.
Prof Sadrul Amin, president of Dhaka University Teachers' Association (Duta) and an accused in the same cases, was sent to jail after he surrendered before the same court on September 16.
Prof Neem's attorneys Syed Rezaur Rahman and Porimal Chandra Guha submitted two petitions on his behalf--first one for Neem's surrender and treatment and the second one for seeking division in jail.
Moving for the petitions, the attorneys mentioned that they did not submit a bail petition because bail is not allowed for a person accused under the Emergency Power Rules.
Prof Neem's name was not in the first information report (FIR) of the cases but his name was included in the charge sheets, they said adding that to create panic on the campus, the complainants of the cases accused more than 5,000 unknown students, teachers and outsiders.
Since their client was sick and a person of high status, he should be treated in a specialised medical facility and given first class division in jail, they argued.
Following the hearing, the magistrate ordered jail authorities to give him appropriate division in jail considering his status and under provisions of the Jail Code.
Prof Neem's family members and a number of DU teachers including Neem's colleagues were present at the court during the hearing.
Two other accused teachers, Duta General Secretary Prof Anwar Hossain and DU Science Faculty Dean Prof Harun-or-Rashid, and one of the accused students, Moniruzzaman, are in jail now.
In Rajshahi, a magistrate court for speedy trials framed charges against 14 people including two RU teachers yesterday in connection with violating the Emergency Power Rules, 2007 and torching of a DGFI vehicle during the August violence, reports our staff correspondent in Rajshahi.
The accused teachers are Prof Dr Chowdhury Sarwar Jahan Sajal and Prof Golam Sabbir Sattar Tapu of geology and mining department. Both of them are also prosecution witnesses to the sensational Prof S Taher murder case and were cooperative towards police, which helped police bring murder charge against RU Islamic Chhatra Shibir president Mahbubul Alam Salehi.
The other accused of the case include deputy chief information officer Sadikul Islam of RU Public Relations Office and Ataur Rahman, a driver of former RU vice-chancellor Faisul Islam Faruki.
Bangladesh Chhatra League RU Secretary Ayenuddin, students Dipayan Sarkar, Mizanur Rahman Mithu, Sardar Ayaz, SM Fakrul Islam Raihan, Abu Sayem, Shamim Ahmed, Kazi A Latif, Shakhawat Hossain, Aziz Bin Kamal were also accused in the case.
The court of magistrate SM Fazlul Karim Chowdhury fixed September 24 for the start of the hearing.
Meanwhile, both the teachers claimed they are innocent when the court sought their comment on the charges brought against them.
Rajshahi DGFI's assistant director Shawkat Ali lodged the case with Motihar Police Station on August 23 accusing the two teachers and four students.
On September 1, the investigation officer of the case Sub-inspector Mukhtar Hossain submitted the charge sheet accusing 14 people.
The plaintiff alleged that a huge number of students and people assaulted DGFI Assistant Director Shawkat Ali while he was on duty on the campus on August 22.
The charges also said the two teachers abetted students to set fire to the government-owned vehicle.
The defence lawyers pleaded that there was no ground for bringing the allegations and there was a huge difference between the first information report (FIR) and statements of witnesses given to police.
Police submitted a videodisk to the court as evidence in connection with the assault on the DGFI official and torching of his vehicle. Police showed a total of 21 prosecution witnesses, 15 of them are members of law enforcement agencies.
Court Sub-inspector Shamsul Islam moved for the prosecution.