Justice remains on hold for Shamim Ahmed, popularly known as Shamim Molla, as the investigation into his fatal public beating at Jahangirnagar University over a year ago sits frozen, prompting his family to accuse authorities of deliberate inaction.
The victim’s relatives claim the probe has been deliberately slowed, despite video footage clearly capturing the attack and identifying many of the perpetrators. They also allege a lack of cooperation from the university administration.
“The accused are roaming the campus openly, but we are not receiving any cooperation from the university authorities,” Shamim’s elder brother, Shahin Alam, told TIMES of Bangladesh.
Shamim, a student at the university’s 39th batch and former organising secretary of the university unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League, now banned, was assaulted on 18 September 2024, weeks after the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August. Videos of the attack quickly spread across social media.
According to family members, while three initially arrested suspects were later released after a review of video evidence, the remaining accused continue to move freely. Some have even assumed prominent positions. One recently won a seat in the university’s student union election, while another currently serves as a hall-unit president of the BNP-affiliated Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.
Two days after the killing, the university administration filed a case naming eight students and 20 to 25 unidentified individuals. The accused students include Md Ahsan Labib, Raju Ahmed, Mohammad Rajan Mia, Md Mahmudul Hasan Raihan, Hamidullah Salman, Saiful Islam Bhuiyan, Md Atikuzzaman and Sohag Mia.
Among them, Raihan, Bhuiyan and Atikuzzaman were arrested but later secured bail. Labib has since been elected a secretary in the Jahangirnagar University Central Students’ Union (Jucsu), while Salman now holds a leadership post in Chhatra Dal.
The family also filed a separate case. However, despite a court order directing that both cases be investigated together, officials say the documents from the family’s case have yet to reach the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI).
PBI Sub-Inspector Anisur Rahman, the investigating officer, said the agency possesses only the documents relating to the case filed by the university administration.
“As there is no official record of the case filed by the family, it is not possible to proceed with the investigation in light of it,” he said.
Shahin Alam questioned why the court documents had not reached investigators more than a year after the order was issued.
In March 2025, the university syndicate temporarily expelled six students and suspended the academic certificates of two former students for six months. However, there has been no visible progress in the criminal investigation.
Repeated attempts to contact Vice-Chancellor Kamrul Ahsan and Proctor Rashedul Alam for comment were unsuccessful.
Before his death, Shamim had been accused of participating in an attack on protesting students at the vice-chancellor’s residence on 15 July, 2024.
Following the fall of AL government, a group of students detained him near the university’s main gate, assaulted him and later handed him over to the proctorial body. He subsequently died while undergoing treatment at Gonoshasthaya Hospital.
