A five-member committee has been formed to investigate an attack on journalists carried out allegedly by activists of Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) on the campus.
The university administration is also preparing to file a case with Motihar Police Station over the incident, said University Proctor Prof Dr Mahbubur Rahman.
On Sunday, 10 people including four journalists were injured in an attack allegedly by some leaders and activists of JCD in front of Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Hall around 8:30 pm.
Witnesses said JCD leaders and activists came to the hall gate from the university's Transport Market in a procession allegedly intending to attack the hall students’ union general secretary (GS) Ariful Islam.
They were reportedly carrying locally made weapons, including machetes, cleavers, hockey sticks, pipes and baseball bats.
When the university proctor arrived at the spot, the JCD activists hid the weapons, witnesses said.
Journalists who approached the area to record video of the situation were then attacked.
Witnesses said a Samakal correspondent was beaten with sticks in the presence of the proctor, while an attempt was also made to seize the mobile phone of an Ajker Patrika correspondent.
The bdnews24.com correspondent was later allegedly assaulted.
The proctor subsequently took the journalists inside the hall and locked the door for their safety.
When other journalists arrived after hearing about the attack, The Daily Star and Agamir Shomoy correspondents were beaten. Zahidul Islam suffered a head injury.
Journalists who tried to intervene were also allegedly threatened by the attackers.
The incident reportedly stemmed from a dispute over comments made by JCD leader Ahsan Habib on a Facebook post concerning Rajshahi University Central Students' Union (RUCSU) GS Salahuddin Ammar.
University Proctor Mahbubur Rahman said, “We failed. It was not possible for us to control the situation. We called the police, but the police also fled in fear.”
Rajshahi University unit JCD President Sultan Ahmed Rahi said he had informed the central committee of the incident and that action would be taken against those responsible.
In protest against the attack, journalists staged demonstrations demanding that the university administration file a case against those accused, ensure their arrest, cancel the studentship of students involved in the attack and revoke the certificates of those who have already completed their studies.
They have also demanded that people accused in the incident who are not university students be barred from entering the campus.
They later withdrew their programme after the university administration assured them that a case would be filed by Monday.
Meanwhile, allegations have surfaced that CCTV footage from the site of the attack was deleted after the incident.
The JCD unit on the campus and Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Hall Provost Dr Mahbubur Rahman have been accused of being involved in deleting the footage.
Journalists alleged that important parts of the attack should have been captured by a CCTV camera installed in front of the hall. However, the footage was later found to be unavailable.
They claimed the footage was deleted to conceal the identities of those involved in the attack and the actual circumstances of the incident.
Denying the allegation, Hall Provost Mahbubur Rahman said the CCTV connection had been disconnected because renovation work was ongoing at the time.
“So, there is no footage. The allegation that the footage was deleted is completely false,” he said.
University Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Administration) Dr Abdul Alim, said the relevant information had been preserved.
“Anyone can make allegations. There is no shortage of documents. The investigation committee is collecting information from the sources it needs to,” he said.
Asked about the allegation that the CCTV footage had been deleted, or the hall provost’s claim that the connection had been disconnected, the pro-vice-chancellor declined to comment further.