Police investigating assault on Ruet teacher

Rajshahi police are investigating the assault on a teacher of Rajshahi university of Engineering and Technology (Ruet) by a group of miscreants, for protesting sexual harassment of his wife in the city on Friday.

The incident came to light via a Facebook post by Md Rashidul Islam, an assistant professor of the department of  Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Ruet, which quickly went viral on social media and generated a firestorm of comments condemning the attack.

However, other than the social media post, Islam has remained silent, and was yet to file any complaint with police regarding the incident.   “Police visited the scene and collected footage from available close circuit cameras,” he said, adding that they were trying to identify the attackers.

Police, meanwhile, have started investigating into the incident after recording a general diary, based on a telephone complaint filed by Rashidul’s father in law Nurul Haque, said Nibaron Chandra Burman, officer-in-charge of Boalia Police Station. 

Ruet Teachers’ Association also condemned the incident in a statement. Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, the association’s president SM Abdur Razzak said the executive committee of the organisation will sit after the Eid vacation to decide on their course of action to ensure justice for Rashidul.

He said Rashidul received a cut on his face and bruises all over his body, and was resting at home. “We cannot imagine that an incident like this happened at the heart of the town. It’s an alarming fall of law and order,” he said.

In his Facebook post -- that has since been shared over 3,500 times -- Rashidul wrote the incident occurred while he was walking with his wife in front of Sona Dighi mosque in the area on Friday afternoon.

A group of youths were harassing them for some time. One of the stalkers pushed his wife on her back thrice with the intention of sexually harassing her, and when the stalker pushed her again, Rashidul protested. At this, the stalkers began beating him up, he added. “Some five to seven of the youths were assaulting me while at least 50 others were watching. I cried for help and none responded.”