What law prohibits wearing bindi, Suborna asks in parliament

Ruling Awami-league (AL) parliamentarian Suborna Mustafa expressed her wrath in the parliament on Sunday over a female teacher being harassed for wearing a 'bindi' on her forehead.

The noted actress asked, “Is there any clause in the constitution and the law that a woman will not be allowed to wear bindi on her forehead?”

In her remarks in the parliament’s point of order, she demanded immediate action against the accused policeman.

“Is there any written clause in the constitution and the law that a woman will not be allowed to wear bindi on her forehead? A woman, who is a teacher, wore a bindi. A police officer taunted her after she got down from the rickshaw. It is shameful for us when we see someone from the country’s law enforcement agency playing the eve-teaser role,” the parliamentarian lamented.

Terming the incident as a disgraceful incident regardless of all parties, particularly for the women community, the silver screen actress said “the matter is beyond my political identity: whether I represent pro-government or opposition party. The prime minister always says people's rights come first. The nation’s father said we have to love the people.”

She demanded immediate action in preventing such incidents from recurring in the future.

A female teacher of Tejgaon College in Dhaka was allegedly harassed in broad daylight by a policeman in the capital’s Farmgate area, just for wearing a 'bindi' (or 'teep') on her forehead.

The incident took place on Saturday morning when the teacher – Lata Samaddar, a lecturer of Theatre and Media Studies Department at the Tejgaon College – was passing by the policeman at Shezan Point of the area.

“When I was walking towards the college, a middle-aged bearded man hurled abuse at me saying ‘Why are you wearing a teep?’ I turned around and found the man sitting on a motorcycle in police uniform,” she said in a complaint lodged with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station.