Staff Reporter :
A judicial inquiry report about humiliation of the Headmaster of Narayanganj Piyar Sattar Latif High School was submitted to the High Court with affidavit on Thursday.
The committee said in the report that Shyamal Kanti Bhokta, Headmaster of the school, was assaulted in presence of Salim Osman, MP.
There was, however, no religious reason behind the incident, the report also said.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CMM) of Dhaka Sheikh Hafizur Rahman prepared the inquiry report complying with the HC order. The inquiry committee highlighted six-point on the basis of evidence.
The report said that Shyamal Kanti walloped Rifat Hasan, a student of class X, on May 8 last year. Five days later on May 13 last year, local resident Shamsul Hoque’s son Opu with 10 to 12 others entered a meeting of the school managing committee and assaulted the headmaster. But the witnesses did not disclose names of the associates except Opu.
The report did not find any evidence of allegation that Shyamal Kanti used foul languages about Islam and Allah. But five days later, an announcement through the loud speaker of a local mosque said that Shyamal Kanti had blasphemed Islam. The inquiry committee could not trace who did the announcement.
The committee thought that conflict among the members of the school committee about the development work of the school might have hand behind the announcement.
The High Court (HC) bench headed by Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury on August 10 last year ordered a judicial inquiry into the public humiliation of Narayanganj High School teacher Shyamal Kanti Bhakta, rejecting a police probe report. The CMM submitted the report as per that order of the HC.
Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Saju said that the 65 pages report had been submitted in the HC with affidavit. He said that the committee testified Shyamal Kanti Bhokta, other teachers, victim student and his mother, local people and law enforcers before preparing the report. The HC may hold hearing on the report next Sunday, he said.
On May 13, 2016, Shyamal Kanti Bhokta, the Headmaster of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in Bandar area, was assaulted by a mob and made him to do squat holding his ears in presence of local Jatiya Party MP A K M Salim Osman.
In a Suo Moto rule, the court directed the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Dhaka to conduct a fresh inquiry to identify the real perpetrators.
A judicial team from Dhaka on October 24, 2016, launched a probe into the incident of Shyamal’s public humiliation for his alleged derogatory comments about religion.
A three-member team led by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka Sheikh Hafizur Rahman reached Narayanganj in the morning and questioned Rifat, the class X student of the school, who brought the allegation against Shyamal.
In the second week of May, a video clip went viral on the social media, showing how the headmaster of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in Narayanganj was humiliated and forced to squat holding his ears in the presence of A K M Salim Osman.
The HC on August 10 last year said the report submitted by police was “incomplete”, “inconclusive”, “highly deplorable” and “per-functionary” as the investigation officer had failed to identify the perpetrators who compelled Shyamal to squat in public.
The investigation officer made the report without implicating the masterminds responsible for the degrading treatment of the headmaster, it said, adding that there was no logic behind this.
People across the country saw the humiliation of the teacher through the electronic and print media. The judges cannot shut its eyes to such an incident, the HC bench said.
“Law is above all. None is above the law. Everybody is subject to the law. It is the essence of rule of law”.
The judges also said the senior judicial magistrate in Narayanganj accepted the police report on August 3 without properly applying judicial mind.
Moklesur Rahman, Sub-Inspector of Bandar Police Station in Narayanganj, submitted the investigation report to the HC on August 7 through the Attorney General’s Office, saying that people connected to the high school, including victim Shyamal, had not brought any allegation against anybody.
None gave any statement against anybody and, so, no legal step was taken Meanwhile, rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), which became a party in the Suo Moto rule, submitted a statement to the court, saying that the police report was fabricated as the IO did not talk to Shyamal during the investigation. The organisation appealed to the HC for a judicial inquiry.
Earlier on May 29, the education ministry submitted a probe report to the HC through the AG office, saying the school’s managing committee had forced Shyamal to resign based on an unproven allegation that he hurt religious sentiment of the Muslim community.
Relevant rules were not followed in suspending him, the ministry said, recommending that he should be reinstated.
Later, Shyamal was reinstated as headmaster of the school.
