Two DU Assistant Proctors Step Down from Udayan School Inquiry Committee After Students Express No Confidence; New Committee to Be Formed

Two assistant proctors of the University of Dhaka have stepped down from the inquiry committee formed over allegations of sexual harassment of female students and the creation of objectionable images using artificial intelligence (AI) at Udayan Higher Secondary School, which is affiliated with the university.

They took the decision after students expressed no confidence in the neutrality of the inquiry committee. The school authorities have decided to form a new inquiry committee.

They stepped down on Tuesday (3 November) afternoon, the day students protested on the school premises.

Committee member and University of Dhaka assistant proctor Dr Enamul Haque Sajib said the inquiry report was almost ready. However, as the students expressed no confidence in the committee, they decided to step down without submitting the report.

Dr Enamul Haque Sajib said they had started working on the matter about a week before the Puja holiday. Initially, steps were taken to interview both sides.

He said that during the interviews, one student would mention the names of five more. In this way, the number of students connected to the allegations kept growing and the whole matter became complex, so preparing the report took some time.

He added that their report was almost ready and could have been submitted on Tuesday itself. But before that, on Monday, the students informed the principal in writing that they had no trust in the inquiry committee.

Dr Sajib said that where the students have no trust in the inquiry committee itself, they would not be expected to trust a report submitted by that committee either. In such a situation, he and another University of Dhaka assistant proctor decided to withdraw from the committee and delivered their resignation letters to the principal on Tuesday afternoon.

The committee's convener, Md Abul Hossain Byapari, said the committee's work was 99 percent complete. However, as the students expressed no confidence in the committee, they cannot submit the report. The next decision will be taken jointly by the institution's principal and the University of Dhaka vice-chancellor, he said.

The school's acting principal, Muhammad Arifur Rahman, said the students told him on Monday that there was a crisis of trust among them over the inquiry committee's neutrality. He said he has always told the students to inform him of any problem.

Asked why two teachers from the same faculty were kept on the committee even though the accused student's father is the acting dean of the University of Dhaka's Faculty of Science, the principal said it had not occurred to him which faculty they belonged to. He said outside teachers had been included so that teachers from inside the school could not show bias in the inquiry.

The principal added that as the two assistant proctors have stepped down, a new inquiry committee will be formed. There is a plan to include teachers from other faculties of the University of Dhaka to ensure the new committee's neutrality.

Allegations were raised against a student of the same class that he distorted photos of several Class Nine female students of Udayan Higher Secondary School objectionably using AI, sent obscene messages and physically harassed them. The victims allege that the student had been harassing them for a long time.

The students allege that they informed the school authorities but received no remedy. On 7 October, the accused student's father and two University of Dhaka assistant proctors went to the school. The next day, 10 students were taken to a separate room and their written statements were taken. The students also allege that they were kept there for a long time and that a mobile phone containing digital evidence in favour of the allegations was taken away.