Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW Vol. 5 Num 361 Fri. June 03, 2005       Letters to Editor A tragic death and its aftermath Mallik Akram Hossain The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong The tragic death of a female student of DU has saddened us. Unnatural death of a promising young student is always shocking. Shammee Akhter Happy of Dhaka University lost her life on Saturday, crushed under the wheels of a bus driven by a reckless driver. The aftermath of the tragic incident sparked violent student protests. Students went on the rampage, damaging properties, which is also not acceptable. Regrettably, some inept handling by the police compounded the whole situation in the aftermath of the accident. On Sunday we had to see another episode staged by the ruling party's student front where the rampaging activists along with some JCD leaders-turned-teachers attacked the protesters to free the VC and the proctor from confinement inside the Institute of Fine Arts. The protesters, mostly female students, were demonstrating against the police atrocities on the students in the wake of the death of Happy. How a VC seeks help from a student organisation to free him and his associates from the confinement? He could seek help from the police. Another shameful act is that some teachers joined with the JCD in the attack. Unfortunately, relying on the blessings of student organisations for survival has been the practice of our VCs. For the sake of the universities, VC should act as a neutral guardian. Otherwise, we will have to witness more and more such barbaric and shameful occurrences. . PHOTO: AFP