Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), held a human chain programme in the city on Wednesday, calling for an end to violence against women across the country and protesting at the 'rape threat' made against Fahmida Alam, a female candidate in DUCSU election.
The female leaders and activists of the JCD held the protest programme at 11:00 am in front of the Supreme Court.
JCD leaders and activists from Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Jagannath University, and other institutions in Dhaka attended the protests.
During the human chain, JCD leaders alleged that several Facebook pages and accounts operated in the name of Islami Chhatra Shibir were engaged in bullying and slut-shaming female political activists.
They urged the authorities to take proper action against those responsible.
A Jagannath University student remarked, "Those who welcomed men that kicked women, those who greeted harassers at Shahbagh with flowers, will one day award medals to rapists."
Expressing her anger, Meherun, a student of Kabi Nazrul College, said, "We are not safe on the streets, we cannot move freely. And now, we are not even safe online."
JCD president Rakibul Islam Rakib accused Chhatra Shibir activists of running systematic cyberbullying campaigns against female students. He said their female leaders, including Mansura and Fahmida, along with hundreds of others, were regular victims of such online harassment.
Central JCD general secretary Nasir Uddin Nasir stated that a female student was recently threatened with gang-rape by a suspected Shibir member after she filed a writ petition with the High Court.
He added that female activists across the country have faced cyberbullying and attacks from Shibir members in the past.
Nasir also criticised the Dhaka University authorities, accusing the vice-chancellor and proctor of turning a blind eye to Shibir's 'covert politics' on the campus, despite being well aware of it.
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