Dhaka Cop arrested for harassing woman professor for wearing bindi

In Bangladesh, the Dhaka police has arrested a Constable for harassing and threatening to kill a woman professor of a private college for wearing a bindi, police said on Monday. Constable Nazmul Tarek has been charged with harassing, abusing and physically attacking Prof Lota Sumaddaer, a theatre and media studies lecturer at Tejgaon College in Dhaka, Police Commissioner Mohammad Shafiqul Islam said that administrative action will be taken against the constable, who harassed the professor for wearing a bindi - a decorative mark applied on the forehead by women in the Indian subcontinent.

The professor had earlier in her complaint told the police that she had been feeling unsafe since the "man in the uniform" had tried to run her over with his bike when she protested his verbal abuses. Bangladeshi author Tasleema Nasreen took to Twitter to condemn the incident. The author shared pictures of how many “freethinking men and women from all communities have been wearing bindis & protesting against the harassment.”

College teacher Lata Samaddar was harassed by a fanatic police in Bangladesh for wearing a bindi. Since then freethinking men & women from all communities have been wearing bindis & protesting against the harassment. They want no attack on Bengali culture. pic.twitter.com/tBfDI0xHcy

— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) April 4, 2022

The incident has sparked several protests throughout the country, with several organisations demonstrating and demanding that the police personnel be brought to justice. Members of various women’s rights organisations took to the streets to protest against the despicable act. "Where in the constitution of Bangladesh or in which law does it say that a woman cannot wear a teep?" lawmaker and renowned actor Suborna Mustafa said on Sunday while slamming the incident.Mustafa, in her address to the parliament, demanded an action against the accused policeman to ensure that such incidents do not occur in future.