There was an incident of theft of various equipments including religious books by cutting the tin of the central temple of Jahangirnagar University (JU). In protest of this incident, on Thursday (December 14) evening, students belonging to hindu religion held a sit-in program in front of the residence of the vice-chancellor of the university. Later they returned to the hall at around 11:30 pm on the assurance of the vice-chancellor.
At the time, they highlighted their 6-point demand; determination of the location of the central temple of the university within the next three days, appointment of permanent priests and security personnel at the central temple, allotment of worship rooms for Sanatan religious students in all residential halls of the university, inspection of the central temple by the vice-chancellor within the next three days, compensation and investigation against the culprits. Taking the above measures, installation of CCTV cameras in the temple and round the clock monitoring by the administration and lastly construction of permanent road to the temple.
Amit Biswas, General Secretary of the Sanatan Vidyarthi Sangsad of the University said, as part of the regular weekly prayers, after 1 week we go to the temple to pray in the evening. Then the matter of theft of all the equipments including religious books necessary for prayer came to notice. The temple has been stolen 4 times before. Repeated incidents of temple theft are unfortunate. We want a fair solution.
Almost 250 copies Gita, 4 copies Vedas, 3 ceiling fans, 2 energy bulbs, 250 plates, 30 glasses, 2 buckets, 2 sound boxes and other worship items were stolen by cutting the tin of the temple canopy, he added.
Assuring the implementation of the demands, Professor Dr. Md. Nurul Alam, University Vice-Chancellor. said, ‘At the moment, I cannot assure you about the allocation of worship rooms in the halls. However, initiatives will be taken to implement the rest of the demands within the next 3 working days’.
