AB Zubair, social welfare secretary of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu), has allegedly asserted authority far beyond the campus by threatening and assaulting people in areas where the student body has no jurisdiction.
His late-night visit to Paribagh, around one and a half kilometres off the campus, recently left him in an embarrassing situation.
But TIMES of Bangladesh has found that it was not the first time Zubair had ventured outside the campus and become involved in threats, intimidation and violence.
A businessman in the Science Laboratory area alleged that Zubair assaulted him and asked him to return to his village home and declared that Shahbagh, New Market and Azimpur were his territory.
Under the Ducsu constitution, the social welfare secretary is responsible for humanitarian, welfare-oriented and community-building activities.
Yet over the past nine months, Zubair’s name has surfaced mostly in connection with assaults, harassment of teachers, arguments with transgender people, anti-drug operations in Suhrawardy Udyan and other activities beyond his jurisdiction.
Dhaka University Proctor Md Israfil Ratan told TIMES, “Regardless of the position we hold, it is not right to try to exercise maximum power. Whether it is done by a party or an individual, it is wrong.”
He said Ducsu had no authority to conduct operations in Suhrawardy Udyan or surrounding areas.
“These are the duties of the administration and the police. If an outside incident has an adverse impact on the campus, the university administration takes the necessary steps,” he said.
Defending the operations in Suhrawardy Udyan, Zubair told TIMES, “As the park is adjacent to our campus, any crime committed there also affects the campus environment. The murders of Shariq and Hasham are proof of that. For this reason, I consider it my moral responsibility to help keep the park peaceful.”
Claiming that the administration regularly conducts operations there, he added, “They coordinated with the university administration, the proctorial team and later Ducsu. I assisted there as a coordinator.”
Trader slapped, told to leave Dhaka
In mid-January, computer trader Saiful Islam mistook student leader Naushin Nawar Jaya for his former wife near Science Laboratory and repeatedly asked her to remove her mask. Frightened, Jaya fled towards the Science Laboratory gate and called people she knew, triggering a rapid and heavy-handed escalation.
Two Jagannath University students arrived first, checked Saiful’s phone and warned that he would be detained if he turned out to be an agent of India’s intelligence agency, RAW. Then AB Zubair turned up there to dispense mob justice.
Police later detained Saiful and produced him before a magistrate, who released him the same day after hearing his account.
Jaya acknowledged that Zubair had slapped Saiful, saying he became “agitated” when the trader failed to provide a satisfactory explanation and continued to evade questions.
Video footage captured Zubair slapping Saiful without asking a single question. According to Saiful, the student leader then staked a brazen territorial claim. “The area from Shahbagh to New Market and Azimpur is mine. I shouldn’t see you here again. Go back to your village.”
The incident offers a troubling snapshot of unchecked student vigilantism, and Zubair’s willingness to enforce his own brand of street law across the capital.
Zubair acknowledged slapping the businessman. He claimed the man had pulled off the JnUCSU leader’s hijab and gave incoherent answers when questioned.
“At one point, while taking him to the police station, I slapped him. He was later handed over to the police,” Zubair said.
Teacher chased and grabbed
Zubair’s penchant for vigilantism has repeatedly turned against his own university community.
In October, an aggressive anti-hawker drive sparked widespread outrage after a faculty member was mistreated. Tensions exploded on 11 December 2025, when Zubair chased Sociology Professor AKM Jamal Uddin through a faculty building, grabbed him on a staircase, and attempted to drag him from his car as he fled. Unrepentant, Zubair posted footage of the attack online, boasting that he had cornered a “fascist teacher”.
A dismayed Jamal Uddin responded, “We may have ideological differences, but I am his teacher. He cannot treat me this way.”
Hostility flared again on 7 March. When former student candidate Sheikh Tasnim Afroz Emy played Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic 1971 independence speech in Shahbagh, Zubair and DUCSU Literature Secretary Musaddiq Ali Ibne Mohammad led a mob against her group, smearing them as “Chhatra League activists” before assaulting them.
From physically cornering academics to violently suppressing political expression, Zubair’s tenure continues to shatter basic campus decorum.
Late-night Paribagh controversy
Several videos circulated on social media late last Tuesday showing Ducsu leader AB Zubair and Md Sifatullah Tasnim, a DU Islamic Studies student, arguing and scuffling with transgender people on the Paribagh footbridge near InterContinental Dhaka hotel.
Hermaphrodite people on the videos alleged that Zubair and his companion had attempted to leave without paying after engaging in sexual activity. Zubair denied the allegation.
He claimed that Tasnim was a journalist who wrote about hermaphrodite people and that he had accompanied him for security reasons. Zubair alleged that the hijra people filmed him and launched a propaganda campaign.
He also claimed that Shahbagh Police Station had been informed before they went to the area. Warning of legal action, Zubair alleged that an attempt was being made to assassinate his character.
Shahbagh Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Moniruzzaman said, “Zubair called us and asked that police be sent to the scene.”
Aggressive stance continues
Despite coming under pressure over the Paribagh incident, Zubair maintained an aggressive stance.
On Thursday, he wrote on Facebook, “A homosexual youth was detained on campus a short while ago. The judicial process is under way. At this time, our position will always remain against trans-LG people.”
Videos later circulated showing several people assaulting the youth, although Zubair was not seen in them.
Shahbagh OC Moniruzzaman told TIMES, “Anyone may protest against wrongdoing through a social movement. However, no one can conduct an eviction drive anywhere simply because they wish to do so. It is not lawful.”
