Bangladeshi women harassed by cop for wearing Bindi
GHRTV
05-04-2022
Martina Trimarchi
Bangladesh and Human Rights Researcher,
Global Human Rights Defence
On Saturday, the 2nd of April, Lata Sumaddaer, a theatre and media studies lecturer at Tejgaon College in Dhaka, alleged that she was assaulted and threatened by a police officer for wearing a bindi, a red dot applied between the eyebrows on the forehead used in the Hindu culture.
She was on her way to the college where she works when she noticed a policeman sit on a parked motorbike who started harassing her. As she protested, he tried to run over her with his motorbike several times and she got injured falling down on the street. She presented a complaint with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station mentioning the policeman bike’s number. Two days later, the officer in charge at the police station referred that the identity of the accused is Constable Nazmul Tarek, a policeman now charged with harassment, abuse and physical attack. According to the Daily Star report, the incident sparked a major outcry on social media with many women sharing pictures with bindi on their foreheads as a form of protest and support to the woman. Suborna Mustafa, a parliamentarian from the ruling Awami League (AL), also expressed her outrage in the Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) on Sunday. According to the parliamentarian and social activist Aroma Dutta, this unfortunate incident has to be seen as more than harassment because it is an attempt of preventing people from practising their own culture as women have worn Bindi and jewellery for thousands of years in this country. The reason of the attack could be related to other cases of harassment addressing Hindus in Bangladesh, as they constitute just a 10% of the total Muslim-nation.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ21_CMF1y8&ab_channel=WION
https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/teacher-harassed-cop-wearing-bindi-2996726
