Several hundred of students of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College and their guardians on Saturday formed a human chain in front of the school’s main campus at Siddheswari demanding punishment of Parimal Jayadhar, a teacher of the institution arrested on charge of raping a student, and resignation of the college principal, Husne Ara Begum, for defending the accused.
Special classes, which are a regular feature of the school on Saturday, could not be held on the day because of the demonstrations that began about 11:00am and lasted for an hour and a half.
Policemen and Rapid Action Battalion personnel were deployed at the place during the protests.
The students and their guardians demanded that Parimal now in police custody after his arrest on charge of raping a Class X student of the school, should be hanged.
They also demanded that the college principal, Husne Ara Begum, who reportedly defended Parimal, shoud resign.
‘We want Parimal Jayadhar to be hanged for what he did,’ a student said during the demonstrations.
‘A father normally does not discuss such issues with his daughter. But I attended this human chain with my daughter. We want that other girls should not fall in a similar situation,’ Abu Syed Shipon said.
Parimal, 30, a teacher of Bangla at the school’s Bashundhara campus, also videoed the girl with his mobile.
The victim’s father filed a case on July 5 with the Badda police and he was sacked by the school authorities the same day. Parimal was arrested on July 6.
‘The principal claims that she is a friend of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. We want justice from the prime minister,’ said Mostafa Kamal, a guardian.
‘Our school has a reputation. We will not allow anyone to destroy this reputation,’ a student said.
‘The authorities of a school in rural areas would not have taken some much time Viqarunnisa did to take action against such a teacher,’ said Foisal Babu, another guardian.
Students said that even the principal had threatened them with expulsion if they took part in the human chain. ‘She threatened us with expulsion if we participated in the human chain,’ said another student.
Some of the placards read: ‘We are not secure with this principal,’ ‘Shame on people involved in this heinous act’, ‘Management cannot avoid responsibility for student’s violation,’ and so on.
The school remained closed on Saturday and all the gates were also closed. Some teachers said that they had gone to take classes but they could enter the campus.
At one point, when the guardians wanted to call off the programme, the students refused to go home. They said that they would stay in on campus until the principal would resign.
The students left the place about 2:00pm.
The college principal could not be reached for her comments despite repeated attempts.
-With New Age input
