Eminent writer Dr Muhammad Zafar Iqbal said he couldn’t believe the arrest of science teacher Hriday Chandra Mondal in Munshiganj for answering a question raised in the classroom logically.
The former professor of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (Sust) said this in a human chain held in front of the National Museum around 5pm on Saturday, protesting the arrest of Hriday Mondal.
Demanding the release of Hriday Mondal, he said: “I couldn’t believe that a teacher has been arrested by the government for giving the most rational answer to a question of his student.”
Nipironer Biruddhe Shahabag, a human rights organization, formed the human chain protesting arrest of Hriday Chandra Mondal, a science teacher who was arrested on charges of “hurting religious sentiment” after he discussed in the classroom the distinction between religion and science.
Dr Zafar Iqbal said, "We have to teach our children science with utmost care for the sake of the development of our country, because development is impossible without science. Science teacher Hriday Mondal has been made the scapegoat of the communal people for doing his duty of teaching the subject."
"People who believe in science will believe the words of Hriday Mondal and will admit it as truth. He cannot be arrested for it," he added.
Other organizations like Bangladesh Teachers Joint Council, Minority Rights Forum also joined the program with the demand for freeing Hriday as soon as possible.
Earlier on March 20, some tenth-grade students recorded a class conversation of Hriday Mandal on science and religion where he reportedly disrespected Islam.
On March 22, students demonstrated, joined by some locals, after submitting a memorandum to the head teacher against Hriday.
Later the same day, he was formally arrested in the case started by the school’s office assistant Md Asad.
Hriday was produced in court the next day, when he was denied bail and sent to prison.
The next bail hearing is scheduled for April 10 at the District and Sessions Judge’s Court.