the premises on their duties. Witness No. 39, Dr. Zinnur Ahmed Chaudhury, No. 40, Dr. Abul Masood Khanmajlis, No. 41, Dr. Nawab Ali, and all the male nurses, namely, No. 46, Mohammed Mian, No. 49, Sekander Ali made mention of brickbats in the course of their statements and so does witness No. 63, Ekhlasuddin Ahmed, a Contractor's representative. That brickbats were thrown and were to be found scattered about the street is also apparent from the photographs exhibited and from the statements of witnesses who belong to the class of the general public, the bus drivers, the doctors, the rickshawalas who wanted to claim compensation for damage done to their vehicles (Witnesse Nos. 22,23,24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34). Perhaps even more impressive is the statement of witness No. 24, Dr. A. Musa A. Huq, a medical practitioner of Dacca who deposed that he was stopped on his way to attend a patient while driving in his car past the Medical College. He spoke on the sudden swelling of the crowd at that particular junction, the crowd being composed of boisterous elements and he also spoke of the brickbats being thrown at the Police. This doctor is a gentleman whose word there is no reason to doubt and if his statement is accepted as true then certainly at 2 p.m. the situation in front of the Medical College gate was serious.
27. It has been suggested by Mr. Ghani that as a matter of fact the incidents prior to the firing by the Police have been exaggerated and the numbers of the crowd magnified in order to give a veneer of truth to the police statements that they were in danger of being overwhelmed. It was suggested for example that the crowd in the University and the Medical College areas has been estimated by the police witnesses as being somewhat 4,000 or 5,000 strong while according to the Vice-Chancel lor the total number of University students is only 2,500. It is claimed therefore that even if the whole body of students and Medical College Hostel boarders were involved in the disturbances the number falls short of the estimate given by the Police. It is also claimed that only two outsiders, Mr. Shamsul Huq and Mr. Oli Ahad were mentioned as having been seen. within the University area on that morning. The high officials of the University, the Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Zuberi and Dr. Ghani, according to their own statements estimate the crowd in the University precincts at about 1,000 and Mr. Ghani points out that they say that after the meeting was over a large number of the persons who had attended the meeting dispersed peacefully. The ranks of the students thinned out and some merely listened to the meeting and left shortly thereafter. It is also pointed out that the police raised no objection at all to these students who wished to leave and allowed them to do so and therefore if the University officials figure of 1,000 is approximately correct and if a considerable number of these dispersed peacefully, then it is difficult to accept the Police figure of 4,000 to 5,000 at about 1-45 p.m. This argument, however, does not really carry conviction because the police opened fire at 3-20 p.m. and it is possible that the crowd augmented in the interval between the termination of the meeting and the actual firing. Indeed if the evidence of P.W. 28, Mr. Mohammed Kamal be believed-that would seem to be what actually happened and as has already been noticed-it was not difficult for students and outsiders to pass from one part of the University and the Medical College compound to another without coming out on the road at all. And that there were outsiders within the University compound at this particular time admits of no dispute on the statements of witnesses and on the casualty lists.
