A mobile court sentenced the headmaster of a high school in Ishwardi to four months in jail on Sunday on charge of sexual harassment of a student.
But a section of students of Basherbanda Bohumukhi High School and locals staged demonstrations in protest at the punishment of the headmaster, Shamsul Islam insisting that the charge brought against him was ‘false’.
The protesters said that the headmaster was jailed on a ‘false’ charge because of conspiracies by some of his colleagues.
They said a group of teachers had spun the story of sexual harassment in a bid to oust the headmaster from the school.
A mobile court, led by Ishwardi upazila nirbahi officer Jakir Hossain, jailed the headmaster after the police arrested him on charge of sexual harassment of a student of class VII of the school on Sunday afternoon.
Kazi Haniful Islam, officer-in-charge of Ishwardi police station, quoted school sources as saying that the headmaster had sexually harassed the student in the classroom at about 10.30am on Sunday when all teachers and students were out in an assembly.
‘As the girl cried out for help, teachers and students rushed to the classroom, rescued the girl and caught the headmaster,’ the police officer said.
The police produced the headmaster and the girl
in the mobile court on Sunday afternoon along with witnesses. The headmaster was sent to jail on Sunday night after the mobile court handed down the sentence.
“The victim told the court she was sexually harassed by the headmaster. Three other teachers of the school also gave statements as witnesses,’ the UNO said.
But local people and a group of former students of the school brought out a procession on Monday morning in protest at the punishment of the headmaster. The marchers entered the school and forced the students out saying that no classes would take places until the headmaster was released. The protesters also accused the assistant headmaster of the school of hatching the ‘plot’ to oust Shamsul Islam from the school.
Scuffles broke out between the protesters and teachers of the school that left two teachers injured. The protesters claimed that two former students of the school were injured in the clash.
Classes were suspended and most of the teachers and students left the school during the clashes. Police were deployed in the school compound to avoid further trouble.
‘The headmaster is the victim of a conspiracy. The school will remain closed until he is released,’ the protesters said.
-With New Age input
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