SM Mizanur Rahman :
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Wednesday said that the government would take strong action against those, who were involved in humiliating the headmaster of a school at Narayanganj, after obtaining probe report.
“Such misbehaviour with a teacher can’t be accepted. So, we have attached the highest importance to the issue and sent a probe body there. The probe body has returned from Narayanganj after working there for the whole night,” he said.
“We will take a decision as soon as the probe report is available,” said Nahid.
The government is highly annoyed at the humiliation of a Narayanganj school headmaster by local Jatiya Party lawmaker Selim Osman and all those who shared with him.
Several ministers including Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, Health Minister Mohammad Nasim, Law Minister Anisul Huq and Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu reacted sharply at the development and said that those who were responsible for humiliating the school headmaster in public would be punished.
On last Friday, Shyamal Kanti Bhakta, Headmaster of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in the Bandar area, was beaten up by a mob and made to squat holding his earlobes in presence of lawmaker AKM Selim Osman. The incident went viral on social media and drew widespread criticisms.
Later on Tuesday, school management suspended Shyamal Kanti Bhakta days after he was publicly humiliated on charge of criticising religion of Islam.
Replying to a query about the removal of the headmaster, the education minister said, the school management’s decision to sack the teacher is beyond authority.
“The ministry doesn’t have anything to do in this regard,” he said. The committee began its investigation into the incident on Tuesday. Led by Yusuf Ali, director of Dhaka Zone Directorate of Education, the probe body recorded statements of members of the school’s governing body, its teachers, students, union parishad chairman and eminent personalities last night.
Meanwhile, the High Court on Wednesday issued a suo moto rule asking the government to explain in two weeks as to why it should not be directed to take necessary legal actions against local lawmaker Selim Osman and others who were involved in humiliating a schoolteacher of Narayanganj.
The HC also asked Narayanganj superintendent of police to submit a report to it in three days regarding what steps had been taken against the persons responsible for the humiliation.
Senior Lawyer of Supreme Court (SC) and former Additional Attorney General MK Rahman and Senior Lawyer Mohsin Rashid placed the news stories published in different national dailies on teacher humiliation to the court. Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Sazu was present during the period.
Home secretary, law secretary, deputy commissioner and superintendent of police of Narayanganj, upazila nirbahi officer concerned and officer in charge of Bandar Police Station have been respondents to the rule, deputy attorney general Motahar Hossain Sazu told journalists.
The court also directed the DC and SP of Narayanganj to investigate the issue and submit a report within the next three days, said Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Saju.
The HC bench comprising Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir passed the order and issued rule a suo moto (own) rule in view of the reports published in different newspapers over the incident.
As the news spread, teachers, writers, artists, and students continued to protest and condemn the humiliation of a schoolteacher.
They also demanded punishment to MP AKM Salim Osman and his cohorts involved in the incident.
A banner read: “Not just one teacher, but the whole of Bangladesh was made to do sit-ups holding its ears.”
A video clip of the incident has gone viral on social media, triggering public outrage and a firestorm of protests on social networking sites.
Infuriated, Facebook users began uploaded photos in their profiles, showing they were holding their ears in a token of apology shown to the headmaster with a “sorry sir” statement.
