The hanging body of a school teacher has been recovered from his house at Daripaka village of Sakhipur upazila in Tangail following an allegation of a sexual harassment was brought against him.
The deceased was identified as Nurul Islam, 55, an assistant teacher at Daripaka Government Primary School and son of Amjad Ali of that village.
His body was found hanging from the beam in the kitchen of his house at the village around 11:30am on Tuesday.
On information, police recovered the body.
Locals said that on August 27, the students of Daripaka Government Primary School and neighboring Daripaka High School held a human chain and protest program accusing Nurul Islam of sexual harassment.
Later, they also gave a memorandum to Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO), Upazila and District Education Officer. Since then the teacher was mentally disturbed.
The District Education Office has already completed a preliminary investigation into the complaint. When Nurul Islam appealed against that investigation, it was decided to investigate the matter a second time. Tuesday was the first day of the second investigation. Because of this, Nurul Islam was asked to attend the school.
Meanwhile, Nurul Islam committed suicide by hanging herself, unable to bear the allegations of sexual harassment brought against him, according to family sources.
There has been anger in the area over the issue. Many claimed that the sexual harassment case was false and that a group had planned to frame him.
Nurul Islam's daughter Nipa, 25, claimed to the reporters: "Some people including a local resident Mustafa Kamal and others addressing them as student coordinators have been conspiring against my father for a long time. They demanded money from my father and threatened in various ways for non-payment.”
As the students of primary school did not want to form a human chain, they brought in high school students and organized a human chain against my father. Her father committed suicide because of these false accusations and threats, claimed Nipa.
“I demand justice for the conspirators. My father died mainly because of them.”
Denying the allegations, Mustafa Kamal said: “I had a good relationship with Nurul Islam. Why am I going to do this? If anyone mentioned my name, it would be a conspiracy against me.'
Upazila Education Officer (Acting) Mohammad Morad Hossain Khan said: "No specific girl brought the allegation against him. Several girls of the primary school and neighboring Daripaka High School had made him accused of sexual harassment in the application form of the local residents. Preliminary investigation of the complaint against the teacher has been done. He was due to be at the school today (Tuesday) for a second investigation. But in the morning I got the news that he died. The matter has been reported to senior officials.”
Sakhipur police station officer-in-charge (OC) M Zakir Hossain said: "His body has been sent to Tangail General Hospital for an autopsy. Necessary action will be taken if a written complaint is received.”