C T Online Desk: The policeman, who allegedly harassed a Tejgaon College teacher for wearing teep, has been identified and suspended.
‘The accused policeman Nazmul Tarek is a constable working at Dhaka Metropolitan Police protection division,’ said Utpal Barua, the officer-in-charge of the Sher-e-Banglanagar police station in Dhaka.
The OC did not confirm whether the constable was taken into their custody.
‘He is a policeman. We have primarily identified him and will now continue investigating the incident. We will talk to the victim for her confirmation,’ said the OC.
The victim Lata Samaddar’s husband Malay Bala, who is a Dhaka University professor, said that they were yet to be officially informed by police about the development.
‘We have come to know about the detection through media reports and social media posts. We also suspect that the constable is the person who harassed my wife,’ said Bala.
He expressed his gratitude to the police for their response and people for the widespread protest.
DMP Tejgaon zone additional deputy commissioner Rubayat Zaman said that the constable had confessed to being involved in the incident.
‘His narrative of the incident is different from the college teacher’s narrative. A general diary was filed over the incident and we are investigating it,’ said the police officer.
Primarily, it was suspected that the constable was driving a stolen motorbike, but ADC Rubayat said that their investigation was yet to find anything like this.
The motorbike, which the constable used was registered in Jashore and police were yet to find if it was stolen, said the police officer.
Confirming that Nazmul was suspended for the incident, DMP deputy commissioner for media Faruk Hossain said that a two-member probe committee was formed over the incident. They were asked to file their report within three working days, he said.
ADC Rubayat said that decision on departmental action against Nazmul would be taken based on their investigation of the GD and the probe report.
Tejgaon College teacher Lata on Saturday complained of harassment by a person in a police uniform in the capital’s Farmgate area.
She filed a general diary with the Sher-e-Banglanagar police station over the incident.
In her complaint, Lata said that she was heading towards Tejgaon College at about 8:30am on Saturday. When she reached in front of Shezan Point Shopping Mall in the Farmgate area, the accused made offensive remarks about her.
The incident created a public outcry as many protested it on social media.
Ruling Awami League reserved-seat lawmaker Suborna Mustafa on Sunday protested the harassment of the victim by a policeman for wearing teep, a decorative dot, on the forehead while addressing the parliament.
Meanwhile, 16 citizens in a statement on Monday expressed their disappointment over the constable’s harassment of a college teacher for wearing teep.
The statement said that top police officials and the government should be asked whether the force members were not trained for showing respect to all the women in the society and talking decently.
Calling the behaviour of some members of the police as unfortunate, the citizens said that the police and other forces not only show disrespect and harass women, children, minorities and ethnic groups, but they also don’t hesitate to violate their basic and civil rights.
The signatories in the statement include human rights activists Sultana Kamal, women rights activist and Nijera Kori coordinator Khushi Kabir, Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman, senior lawyers Rana Dasgupta, ZI Khan Panna and Subrata Chowdhury, Dhaka University professor Asif Nazrul, Bangladesh Adivasi Forum general secretary Sanjeeb Drong, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association chief executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan and Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust honorary executive director Sara Hossain.
