C T Online Desk: The High Court has ordered Narail’s chief judicial magistrate to investigate the public humiliation of an acting principal of a college in the district.
The panel of Justice Bishmadev Chakraborty and Justice SM Moniruzzaman issued the order on Monday after hearing a petition by the rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra, or ASK. The court has six weeks to submit its report.
Highlighting some recent events, the High Court also questioned the failure of the local administration and law enforcing agencies to protect minority civilians from mob justice, public harassment and humiliation.
The court named the secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry, the deputy commissioner of Narail, the inspector general of police, the Narail superintendent of police and the office-in-charge of Sadar Police Station as respondents to the order.
The ASK had recently petitioned for a judicial investigation into the humiliation and abuse of Mirzapur United College Acting Principal Swapan Kumar Biswas in Narail Sadar Upazila on Jun 17. The incident triggered nationwide protests and condemnation.
According to witnesses, the Hindu college teacher was forced to wear a garland of shoes in public for attempting to defend a student of the same faith for a Facebook post supportive of an Indian politician’s offensive remarks about Prophet Muhammad.
A Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education investigation found conflicts in the college, including in the appointment of the principal.
Since the incident, Narail has seen a surge in communal tensions. On Friday, a mob torched and vandalised a temple and scores of houses in a Hindu neighbourhood in Lohagara Upazila, alleging that another student of the Hindu faith made a post on Facebook offensive the Islam.
The ASK filed a supplementary application requesting that Friday’s incident be included in the hearing on Monday, but the judges refused to hear it.
