Jahangirnagar University (JU) has suspended 12 second-year students of the History Department over allegations of ragging first-year students late at night on campus.

The decision was announced in an office order signed by acting registrar ABM Azizur Rahman yesterday (4 July).

The suspended students are Nasim Uddin Majumdar, Mahfuzur Rahman Anto, Abdullah Mahdi, Shubhashish Roy Pranto, Abu Abtahi Anik, Raihan Khan, Naimul Hasan, Isfak Hadi, Naim Ahmed Sajib, Kartik Chandra Roy, Kazi Shah Jamshed Alam Nabil and Saifullah Mansur Anan. All are students of the university’s 54th batch.

According to the order, the students were suspended under Section 5(6) of the Jahangirnagar University Students’ Discipline Ordinance, 2018, which prohibits teasing, ragging and other forms of abusive behaviour in university halls, departments and elsewhere on campus.

The incident took place late Friday night when several first-year History Department students were allegedly called to the JU School and College field under the pretext of being taught “manners”. They were allegedly subjected to mental and physical harassment.

After receiving complaints, a university proctorial team rushed to the scene, detained the 12 accused students and questioned them at the university’s security office.

The university administration said the decision to suspend the students was taken following a preliminary investigation based on written complaints filed by the victims and written confessional statements submitted by the accused.