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Bangladesh science teacher jailed over blasphemy, family in fear

WION Web Team
NEW DELHIUpdated: Apr 08, 2022, 12:01 AM IST
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Hriday Chandra Mondal has been teaching at the school for 21 years and has never had a complaint filed against him during that time. Photograph:(Twitter)

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According to the Bangladesh media, family members of Hriday Chandra Mondal, the Munshiganj schoolteacher who is currently incarcerated on charges of demeaning religion, are living in fear.Because of the societal harassment, his son has stopped attending to school.

After a school teacher in Bangladesh's Munshiganj was arrested for allegedly making disrespectful statements about Islam, his family is living in fear.

Hriday Chandra Mondal, a 21-year veteran of Binodpur Ram Kumar High School, was teaching math to Class 10 students on March 20 when he allegedly made derogatory remarks regarding the Prophet.

According to the Dhaka Tribune, he claimed that the Prophet (PBUH) was "a sensible person" who "authored the holy book himself and supported it."

A number of pupils filed a written complaint with the headmaster later that day, stating that the teacher had made insulting remarks about Islam.

Some students conducted protests, and the instructor was arrested as a result. 

Md Asad Miah, the school's office assistant, filed a complaint against him for "demeaning religion...as per school authorities' directions." 

Meanwhile, the family has accused some unruly students of stalking and harrassing Mondal. 

In response to the incident, Tasleema Nasreen tweeted: "A science-teacher is in jail in Bangladesh for not admitting that the Quran is based on science and Muhammad was the greatest scientist in the world. Bangladesh is becoming a country of Islamists and Hasina is the mother of all Islamists."

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"We have filed papers twice seeking his bail," Ajoy Chakraborty, the teacher's lawyer, said. However, the applications were turned down. During the next hearing on April 10, we will seek his bail once more.

"Police included a section on denigrating religion in the FIR on purpose." "We have an audio clip of the conservation between the teacher and the pupils," Md Mizanur Rahman, the case's investigation officer and sub-inspector of Munshiganj Sadar Police Station, stated. However, we did not find the charge levelled against him to be true. We'll submit the charge sheet as soon as possible." 

(With inputs from agencies)