Shahbagh police faced intense pressure in the early hours of Thursday after a mob entered their station, demanding the release of Mostafa Asif, a man arrested the previous day for allegedly harassing a female student of Dhaka University (DU).
The group insisted that the arrestee, an assistant binder at DU’s central library, be released by morning, threatening to stage a large-scale sit-in protest in front of the police station if their demand was not met.
At around 1:30am, approximately 30 individuals entered the station, pressuring law enforcement for the immediate release of the accused.
However, as of 3:30am – when this report was filed – discussions between the group and police officials were still ongoing.
According to the protesters, the accused had merely "approached the female student in a decent manner" and was fulfilling an "Islamic moral obligation" by advising her on modest dressing.
They also threatened to file a defamation and theft case against the student if the complaint against the accused was not withdrawn.
The plaintiff, the harassed girl, told Dhaka Tribune that she was returning with a friend from a tutoring session around 1:30pm when the alleged harasser approached her.
According to her, he questioned her about her attire, asking why her scarf was not in the "right place" and why she was "roaming around like this" instead of dressing more appropriately.
When she responded that she was wearing proper clothes, the accused argued that her scarf was not covering her chest area at that moment.
As she attempted to call her friends and the university proctor, the accused reportedly fled toward Suhrawardy Udyan to evade capture.
The accused, Mostafa Asif, in a Facebook comment under the victim's post, claimed that he had spoken "out of respect" and lamented that he had lost his job for doing something "good."
Kazi Mostak Gausul Hoq, librarian of the DU central library, told Dhaka Tribune that he learned about the incident from the proctor after 5pm.
He said the library administration would take official action, which would be announced later. "We will make our decision by consulting with the Dhaka University authorities to ensure justice.”
Meanwhile, Shahbagh police station Officer-in-Charge Md Khalid Mansur said the DU student had filed a case against the library staff member for “obscene verbal sexual harassment.”
"We contacted the DU proctorial team, where the accused confessed to the allegations against him. We have registered the complaint, arrested the suspect and will present him in court for further investigation," he said.
