Humiliated, now suspended
Law minister warns action for assault on Nganj headmaster
The Piyar Sattar Latif High School authority yesterday suspended Shyamal Kanti Bhakta, the headmaster who was humiliated in public on charges of hurting religious sentiment, allegedly on instructions of the local MP.
Meanwhile, Law Minister Anisul Huq yesterday condemned the humiliation of the headmaster and said those involved in the incident will be duly punished. The law ministers reaction came a day after the education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, condemned the incident.
The public humiliation of the headmaster triggered massive protests across the country.
Shyamal Kanti Bhakta, the headmaster, received the letter of suspension yesterday. It was signed on May 16 by the chairman of the school managing committee. The school in Narayanganjs Bandar upazila apparently suspended Bhakta citing a number of reasons including for being absent on May 16.
I was hospitalized after the incident. I have been suspended for my absence on that day, he told journalists. I havent got justice for my humiliation, he added.
The letter read, There are allegations against you of physically punishing students, taking money on the pretext of giving teaching jobs in the school, making derogatory remarks about Islam, being absent without informing the school, and for always being late to work. We had received such allegations in the past and you were alerted. But you did not refrain from such illegal activities. According to the unanimous decision of the managing committee on May 13, you have been temporarily suspended from the post of headmaster of the school.
Copies of the letter have been sent to local MP Selim Osman, the director general of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, the chairman of the Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board in Dhaka, the Bandar upazila nirbahi officer, the district secondary education officer, and the Bandar upazila secondary education officer.
Managing committee president Farukul Islam left the country after the meeting on Sunday. But school managing committee member Mobarak Hossain could not explain how Farukul signed the letter of suspension on May 16 (Monday).
Meanwhile speaking at the inauguration of a workshop at the Institute of Judicial Administration Training Institute in the capital, Law Minister Anisul Huq said, It is a serious offence to punish a teacher by making him hold his ears and by forcing him to do sit-ups. I strongly condemn. Those involved in the incident will be punished duly. No one can take the law in their own hands. We wont tolerate this.
I came to know from a report that a teacher had meted out corporeal punishment to a student. In that case, the teacher could be brought to justice. But such instant trials without a mobile court cant be tolerated. Legal steps have to be taken in this regard, the minister said.
On Friday, Shyamal Kanti Bhakta, headmaster of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in Narayanganj, faced the humiliation after an allegation of hurting religious sentiment was brought against him. He was humiliated allegedly on the instruction of the local MP, AKM Selim Osman, in front of other people. The incident came under sharp criticism in mainstream and social media.
Even ruling party leaders came down heavily on the incident. On Monday, Awami League joint secretary general Mahbubul Alam Hanif had criticised the teachers humiliation at a programme.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers Association yesterday strongly condemned and protested against the incident of the headmasters public humiliation.
A statement signed by the associations secretary general Prof. Dr ASM Maksud Kamal and president Prof. Farid Uddin Ahmed read, Such barbaric, savage, and illegal incident took place in the presence of a local MP and law enforcers At one stage, he (Syamal Kanti Bhakta) lost consciousness doing squats. He was hospitalized. Medical treatment may give him physical comfort, but his mental state is understandable.
The letter went on, If he commits an offence, there are rules and laws in the country. Such abominable behaviour from a responsible parliamentarian is not desirable. The nation did not give the MP the right to take the law into his own hands.
The letter mentioned that the whole nation was ashamed of and stunned by such ruthless and shameful behaviour with a teacher, who is the conscience of a nation. Such an incident reflects the degradation of social values.
We demand exemplary punishment for the perpetrators. We also urge everyone, including the MPs, to publicly seek apology for such an abominable incident. The teachers community will not accept it, the statement said.
