Sexual Harassment: Vikarunnisa teacher remanded for two days

The students and parents of Vikarunnisa have been demanding exemplary punishment of the accused teacher. Dhaka, 25 February. Photo: Bengali Vogue

The court has allowed Mohammad Murad Hossain Sarkar, a senior teacher of a campus of Vikarunnisa Noon School and College in the capital, to be remanded for two days for questioning in the case of sexual harassment of a student. Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court Magistrate Md. Zaki-al-Farabi gave this order on Tuesday.

CMM Court Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Hemayet Uddin Khan confirmed this information to Prothom Alo. He said, Murad Hossain was produced in the court and applied for seven days remand of Lalbagh police station. The accused rejected this application and sought bail. After hearing both sides, the court granted his two-day remand.

Murad Hossain has claimed in the court that he is a victim of harassment.

On Monday evening, the mother of one of the victim students filed a case of sexual assault and molestation against Murad Hossain at Lalbagh police station. As mentioned in the case, when the victim student was studying in class VII, he used to go to the teacher's coaching. He sexually assaulted the girl on March 10 last year.

Earlier, Murad Hossain was temporarily suspended by Vikarunnisa Noon School and College authorities last night for allegedly sexually harassing female students. Then the police arrested him from his house in Kala Bagan last night.

Last Saturday, the accused teacher was withdrawn from the respective campus of Vikarunnisa Noon School and College and attached to the principal's office. The office order regarding the attachment stated that the allegations leveled against him have been found to be prima facie true.

The students and parents of the educational institution have been demanding exemplary punishment of the accused teacher. The students protested at the Azimpur campus last Sunday on this demand. On the same day, the parents held a press conference and demanded the punishment of the accused teacher.

The parents and students have complained that the accused teacher used to sexually harass the students while teaching coaching.