Dhaka University (DU) law student Akhtar Hossen, who persisted with his solitary hunger strike for the third consecutive day yesterday, was whisked off to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital as his condition deteriorated. Around 1 pm, DU proctor AKM Golam Rabbani came to break Akhtar’s fast along with DU Chhatra League general secretary Saddam Hussain and tried to persuade him to call off the strike. The law student wanted to know from Golam Rabbani whether he had known that the questions had been leaked, but the DU proctor refused to answer. At one stage, Akhter's health condition worsened, forcing his immediately removal to the Dhaka Medical College (DMC).

“We tried to convince Akhtar that the issue of leakage of questions in the DU 'Gha' unit admission test is under review. We told Akhter to wait for the arrival of the vice-chancellor, who is currently out of the country. But his condition deteriorated and we had to take him to the hospital. Now, the student is under the supervision of doctors,” said Golam Rabbani.

Mohammad Riad, the doctor on duty at DMCH, said Akhtar had become physically weak, though his glucose level was normal. He also said the DU student was kept under treatment and would be restored to full health.

Akhtar started the hunger strike demanding a fresh test for ‘Gha’ unit admission, punishment for those involved in the question leak incident and appropriate steps taken by the

authorities to prevent such incidents in future.

Meanwhile, DU students yesterday took to the streets demanding the cancellation of the controversial ‘Gha’ unit admission test, which was marred by leakage of questions. Even the varsity authorities have admitted to the leak of questions in the test. The students also brought out a mammoth protest rally, which passed through the key streets of the university, demanding the revocation of the exam and punishment of the fraudsters.

The Bangladesh General Students’ Rights Protection Council, a platform spearheading the quota reforms movement, formed a human chain at the Raju Memorial monument on the DU campus to express its solidarity with Akhtar Hossen. Faruk Hossain, joint-convener of the platform, threatened to paralyse the varsity if the authorities ignored their demands.

Meanwhile, the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami-backed DU White Panel teachers and the Bangladesh Chhatra League DU chapter in separate statements, also demanded the holding of a fresh exam yesterday.

Earlier, on Tuesday, DU had published the result of the ‘Gha’ unit admission test even after acknowledging that the question paper of the controversial test had been leaked before the exam.