The police member accused of harassing, abusing and physically attacking a college teacher for wearing a teep was suspended on Monday. Meanwhile, the authorities also formed a two-member committee to investigate the complaint filed against constable Nazmul Tarek.
The committee has been given three days to submit its report. Earlier in the day, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) took the constable into custody after tracing him from CCTV footage, said Tejgaon Division Deputy Commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarkar.
Nazmul admitted to having engaged in an argument with the lecturer in primary interrogation, according to Deputy Commissioner of the DMP Media Centre Faruk Hossain. Officers at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station did not provide details on how they managed to identify the accused constable.
Nazmul was serving as a constable at the DMP’s Protection Division. DMP Commissioner Mohammad Shafiqul Islam has also warned of strict actions if the allegations were found to be true.
On Sunday, Inspector (Investigation) Jahangir Alam said that they were collecting and analyzing CCTV footage, and making a list of the police units that were on duty that day.
They were also investigating the motorcycle the officer was reportedly riding, as the college teacher gave its registration plate number in her complaint. Meanwhile, the incident sparked several protests throughout the country demanding the police member be brought to justice.
Several organizations have demonstrated demanding punishment of the accused and asked the government to take stern action against harassment of women Moreover, many people, including some men, have protested the incident by wearing teep and posting photos on social media.
On Sunday, lawmaker and renowned actor Suborna Mustafa slammed the incident, saying: “Where in the constitution of Bangladesh or in which law does it say that a woman cannot wear a teep?” Addressing the Parliament, she demanded action against the accused policeman to ensure that such harassment would not be repeated.
In a complaint filed with the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station on Saturday, Dr Lata Samaddar, a lecturer of the Theatre and Media Studies Department at Tejgaon College, said that the incident took place in front of Shezan Point shopping mall in the Farmgate area.
"A policeman in uniform was sitting there on a parked motorbike. When I was passing by, he started harassing me, seeing a teep on my forehead and hurling abuse at me. As I protested, he started the bike and tried to run me over. I tried to move away but got injured severely by falling," said Lata, who is the wife of Dhaka University professor Malay Bala.
She also mentioned the bike's registration plate number in the complaint. After the incident, she went to three on-duty traffic policemen who advised her to file the complaint, she said in the general diary filed with the police.
