Mahila Parishad condemns harassment of minority teachers 

Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP) has condemned the recent harassment, and in some cases, arrests one after another, of minority teachers in different parts of the country.

Expressing deep concern about premeditated incidents aiming to destroy communal harmony through a range of propaganda, the organisation demanded impartial investigation and exemplary punishment of persons involved in such incidents, said a press release.

In the media statement, Mahila Parishad said several incidents of communal issues have been reported in the mass media in the last few days. 

At a high school in Munshiganj, some students started discussing religious issues in a tactical way with science teacher Hridoy Mandal while he was teaching science in the class. The students recorded the conversation and uploaded it on the social media resulting in the teacher being falsely accused of insulting religion and being arrested without any investigation.

In another incident at a high school in Naogaon, Assistant Headmistress Amodini Pal punished some students for not wearing the school uniform and was later harassed by spreading false rumours that the students were punished for wearing the hijab.

In another communal propaganda incident, a false rumour was spread that the headmaster of Zorawargonj Bouddha High School in Mirsarai of Chattogram insulted and beat a female student when she refused to remove her hijab, said the press release.

The BMP press release said such incidents are an obstacle to the establishment of communal harmony and rule of law in the country and are unconstitutional. These incidents are being carried out by insidious extremist groups in a planned and purposeful manner to create communal violence and anarchy in the country. 

The organisation urged the government, administration, and law enforcement agencies to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in order to ensure communal harmony and the peaceful coexistence of people of all communities.

The Mahila Parishad is seeking arrest and exemplary punishment of persons and their patrons involved in such incidents. They demanded security for the people of all minorities.