Locals in presence of a local MP punished a Hindu headmaster of a school in Narayanganj on Friday for allegedly making offensive comments about religion while meting out corporal punishment to a student of the school on May 8.

Principal Shyamal Kanti Bhakta of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in the district's Bandar area told BBC Bangla service that the locals were provoked by the false accusations of him making disparaging statements about religion.

According to the BBC report, Shyamal was beaten up by a mob. He was then rescued by police and taken into safe custody, Abul Kalam, officer-in-charge of Bandar Police Station, told the BBC.

Narayanganj MP Selim Osman admitted to the BBC that the punishment of doing sit-ups holding the ear in public was meted out in his presence.

"There was no other way to save the teacher from the angry public," he told the BBC. 

Shyamal admitted to the BBC that he had indeed beaten up a student and locals used this incident against him. He denied the claim that he had used abusive language against religion.

Shyamal claimed that people in the school management with grievances towards him had used the incident to take revenge.