A probe committee formed to look into allegations that a female student at a Chittagong high school was beaten for refusing to take off her hijab has found no evidence to support her claims.
CCTV footage from the school shows that the student had not even attended the PT session after which she was reportedly beaten, as she had arrived at school late that day. Two of the student’s classmates, who were cited in her complaint, confirmed that the headmaster had not seen her after PT that day.
The classmates also said they were cited in the complaint without their permission.
On March 29, Jorarganj Bouddha High School Headmaster Tushar Kanti Barua was accused of harassing and flogging a female student for wearing the hijab in Mirsarai, Chittagong. The day after the incident, the victim lodged a written complaint with the Upazila Nirbahi Officer and the Upazila Secondary Education Officer.
After the incident, the Chittagong district administration intervened and formed an investigation committee comprising the Mirsarai upazila land commissioner, upazila secondary education officer, upazila chairman, Jorarganj police station OC, and the School Management Committee, Mirsarai UNO Md Minhazur Rahman said.
One of the students cited in the complaint said: "The headmaster spoke to me and two other seventh grade students at the end of the PT. At the time, he did not beat us. We were mentioned in the complaint without our permission. We denied [the allegations against the headmaster] after learning about the situation."
CCTV footage from the school confirmed that the headmaster spoke with three girls at the end of PT at 10:54 am on the day of the incident. The complainant was not among them.
''The allegations were not substantiated. The investigation committee checked the CCTV footage. Nothing related to the beating was found in the footage'', UNO Md Minhazur Rahman said.
Tushar Kanti Barua, the headmaster of JB High School, told Dhaka Tribune: “On the day of the incident, I spoke to three girls in PT, but Lamia, an eighth-grade student, was not there. She arrived late to school that day. The school bus driver and her classmates later confirmed this to me. I had no idea how far the situation would escalate.
“That day, the girl's uncle, and a group of young men harassed me at school. I kept telling them to calm down, but they continued to act rudely. They came out of my room at one point and assaulted the school's religion teacher. This was quite humiliating for us,” he added.
School Board President Maqsud Ahmed Chowdhury, a former Jorarganj union chairman who had organized the internal inquiry committee, said the investigation committee did not find any truth to the allegations.
"Our school has 70 CCTV cameras that are continually monitoring and recording all areas of the school. The administration has looked into everything but has come up empty-handed. The allegations are dubious,'' he added.
He further said he had spoken with the complainant’s mother, who was completely unaware of the whole matter.
Headmaster Tushar Kanti Barua said he had submitted a temporary resignation as per the instructions of the school committee.
“This school has a good reputation in Chittagong district. It seems to me that a group of people is trying to achieve something by focusing on the issue of hijab,” he said.
“Guidelines for our school dress are given to everyone at the time of admission. In every classroom of the school, the dress code information is pasted next to the blackboard. Apart from this, we regularly instruct the students to come attired in proper clothes. There seems to be some other motive behind bringing up the issue of hijab. Even after so many things, such an incident has given me a lot of distress,” he added.
When contacted, the complainant maintained that the headmaster summoned her to the field at the end of PT on the day of the incident and flogged her as she was wearing a hijab.
“After the incident, I called home with the assistance of Rabiul Sir, a JB school teacher. My uncle Mahib Billah arrived later, along with his three cousins Zahidul Hasan Tushar, Mehedi Hasan and Amjad. They spoke with the teachers,” Lamia said.
When asked why there was no CCTV footage of the beating, she said she did not know.
