Claiming himself not guilty, Chairman of Theater and Performance Studies of Dhaka University Dr Md Saiful Islam has submitted his resignation letter and demanded a fair probe over the allegation of sexual harassment against him.
The head of the Theater and Performance Studies department submitted his resignation letter to the registrar of the university, Syed Rezaur Rahman, on Monday afternoon, following a protest by the general students.
Dr Syed Jamil Ahmed, a teacher of Department of Oriental Art of the Faculty of Fine Arts (FFA), said: “Dr Saiful has submitted his resignation letter to the Registrar of the university around 2pm.”
Earlier in the day, the agitated students of the Theater and Performance Studies department confined Dr Md Saiful Islam inside his office, following an allegation of sexually harassing a female student of the department.
According to the students, the victim student had been asked to meet the department head several times since September 8, citing that she had gotten poor marks in examinations and needed consultancy.
After getting the phone calls from the department, the student talked to her department teacher several times Mrs Wahida Mallick Jolly over the issue.
Later on September 13, the student again received a phone call from the department head and went to meet him around 3:53pm.
At one stage of talking, the teacher allegedly tried to harass her sexually. Later, the victim managed to flee the scene. She also recorded the conversation between her and the department head and made his classmates listen to it.
After listening to the recorded conversations, the general students became agitated and submitted a three page complaint paper to the VC and Proctor of the university along with a recorded disk on September 14, demanding immediate punishment of the accused.
As the university authority delayed in responding, the students of the department locked the chairman at his office at around 11am on Monday.
Hearing the news, DU Proctor Amjad Ali rushed to the spot around 1pm and unlocked him.
Later, the department head submitted his resignation and urged the university authority to take measures after a fair investigation.
Proctor Amjad Ali told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have listened to the recorded conversation and found that the demands of the students are justified.”
“The decision about him will be made after a syndicate meeting that will be held in the afternoon.”
When contacted with Wahida Mallick, she did not response to the call.
The department head has been confined till filing the report around 4:45pm.
The general students said they will release him after the syndicate meeting.
