The very punishment meted out to a teacher in Narayanganj to humiliate him publicly became the symbol of protest on social media.

Many Bangladeshis posted photos of them holding their ears with the caption “sorry sir” on social media platforms to express their solidarity with the teacher who had been made to do squats holding his ears in the presence of a local lawmaker allegedly for making derogatory comments on religion.

Infuriated by the incident, many Facebook users uploaded photos of them squatting and even made those their profile and cover pictures.

Social media users started campaigns on Facebook and Twitter with hashtags #sorrysir, #IamSORRY, #weRSORRYsir, #shyamalkantibhakta, protesting the incident.

They demanded a fair investigation into the incident and that the perpetrators be brought to book.

On Friday, Shyamal Kanti Bhakta, headmaster of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in Bandar area, was beaten up by a mob before he was made to do squats holding his ears in the presence of local Jatiya Party lawmaker AKM Selim Osman.

After the incident, Gitiara Nasreen, prof of the mass communication and journalist department of Dhaka University, made an obscure photo of the teacher being humiliated as the cover photo of her Facebook page.

She also uploaded the photo on the same page and wrote, “This is my photo.”

Another DU Prof AJM Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan in a Facebook status wrote, “How do we resist the thugs who insult and kill humans? To Mr Kanti: I am ashamed dear colleague.”

Popular actor Iresh Zaker and Rawnak Hasan put up photos as their profile pictures, in which they were seen holding their ears.

Shahriar Alam, state minister for foreign affairs, in a Facebook status wrote, “I am expressing deep condemnation over the humiliation of the Narayanganj teacher. The honourable education minister gave us the assurance of taking action upon an investigation. Hope, [action] would be taken soon.”

A Facebook group has already emerged with the name “kandhorehokprotibad (Let us protest holding our ears)”. Its members protested the incident uploading photos of them holding their ears.