A teacher has filed a general diary against three people, including two Dhaka University teachers after she received death threats from unidentified people centring the quota reform protests.
Sonam Saha, assistant professor of Dhaka University’s Department of Development Studies, filed the GD on Thursday.
Sub-Inspector Nur Alam Munshi of Shahbagh Police Station confirmed the matter.
The three accused are Professor Gitiara Nasreen from the university's mass communication and journalism department, Associate Professor Samina Luthfa from the sociology department and theatre activist Ferdous Ara Rumee.
According to the GD filed on Thursday, Sub-Inspector Nur Alam Munshi reported that Saha was threatened by two unidentified individuals on motorcycles at the Katabon intersection while going from her Azimpur residence to Siddheswari.
The assailants, whose motorcycle number plates were covered in mud, warned her to stop speaking out, suggesting dire consequences if she continued to protect the government's interests with "impartial speech.”
Sonam blamed an incident that occurred on July 17.
On that day, misinformation had been spread from different Facebook pages saying that police were committing massacres and gang-rape at the university's residential halls.
After hearing the rumours, Saha went to the campus with her husband Shafiqul Islam (assistant commissioner of the Gulshan Zone of Dhaka Metropolitan Police) around 11:30pm and inspected the situation, she said.
"We learnt that the students had left the campus. The campus was deserted due to the closure of halls. There were a few female students who were scheduled to leave the dormitories the next morning. There were residential teachers, their families, an adequate number of police personnel and media workers on the campus. Although the situation was strained throughout the day, the campus was calm, tranquil and safe during the period referred to. The claims of the massacre were completely false and baseless,” she mentioned in her Facebook post.
Her Facebook post was shared by some netizens. Her post called for a halt to the spread of misinformation.
Sonam said in the GD that scores of netizens who were frightened and confused by the misinformation were assured by her post. As a result, a self-interested misleading political group became angry with her, she added.
She said Gitiara Nasreen addressed her as Radio Pakistan, a member of the Peace Committee and indirectly called her a liar.
Samina Luthfa also took to social media to describe her statement as untrue.
"Under their influence, many anti-government individuals virtually and verbally harassed me. They made ugly and repulsive comments. Theatre activist Ferdous Ara Rumee, a Facebook friend of Gitiara Nasreen, made a dangerous suggestion by stating that I was an 'agency woman'. I believe they have a significant influence and responsibility for creating the situation that threatened me,” Sonam added in the GD.
When asked about the matter, Nasreen told the media that everything on her Facebook is open.
She said she made a Facebook post where she wrote something similar to Saha’s claim, but she did not note anybody’s name. She said she did not know Saha personally either.
“The claim of inciting someone to attack is absurd,” she added.
Sub-Inspector Nur Alam Munshi indicated that the investigation is ongoing but has been delayed due to the destruction of CCTV cameras during the recent quota movement.
