Suspended police constable Nazmul Tarek, who is facing a police investigation for harassing and assaulting a college teacher for wearing a teep on a street of Dhaka, started following religious rules strictly all of a sudden, according to his colleagues.
They say Nazmul used to be busy with music, just like others, a couple of years ago. At some point a year ago, he sought permission from his division for keeping a long beard.
Since then, his colleagues have seen a drastic transformation in his behavior.
Born in 1991, Nazmul did his schooling in Jessore. He joined the police as a constable in 2011. He was working with the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Protection Division for the past eight months.
On Monday, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) took the constable into custody after tracing him from CCTV footage, said Tejgaon Division Deputy Commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarkar.
He was subsequently suspended and the authorities also formed a probe committee to look into the matter that led to a huge outcry since Saturday.
During primary interrogation, Nazmul said that he had no idea about the massive criticism over the abuse of the college teacher as he does not watch television and uses a button-phone.
On Sunday, lawmaker and renowned actor Suborna Mustafa condemned the incident, saying: “Where in the constitution of Bangladesh or in which law does it say that a woman cannot wear a teep?”
Speaking in Parliament, she demanded action against the accused policeman to ensure that such harassment is not repeated.
The incident sparked protests throughout the country, demanding that the police member be brought to justice.
Several organizations demonstrated seeking punishment of the accused and asking the government to take stern action over incidents of harassment of and violence against women.
Many people, including some men, have protested the incident by wearing the teep and posting the photos on social media. They also sought government intervention over the trend of moral policing on women on cyberspace as well as on the streets.
What happened on that day?
In her complaint filed with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police station on Saturday, Dr Lata Samaddar, a lecturer of the Theatre and Media Studies Department at Tejgaon College, said that the incident took place in front of Shezan Point shopping mall in the Farmgate area.
"A policeman in uniform was sitting there on a parked motorbike. When I was passing by, he started harassing me, seeing a teep on my forehead and hurling abuse at me.
“As I protested, he started the bike and tried to run me over. I tried to move away but got injured severely by falling," said Lata, who is the wife of Dhaka University teacher Professor Malay Bala.
She also mentioned the motorcycle’s registration number in the complaint.
After the incident, she went to three on-duty traffic policemen, who advised her to file the complaint.
