An assistant professor of the department of Music at the University of Dhaka, Anamul Haque, has been charged with sexual harassment of a female student.
The victim alleged that the accused teacher had made an indecent proposal to her repeatedly.
Following the allegation, the academic committee of the department has recommended for relieving accused Anamul Haque from academic activities for a year. The students of the department have demanded for his permanent termination. The academic committee of the department will hold a meeting on Sunday regarding this.
Earlier on 14 August, a female student placed a complaint in writing against the accused teacher to professor Debproshad Dawn, chairman of the department.
The recommendation to relieve Anamul from academic activities was made on 17 August following the allegation from the student.
According to the department of Music, Anamul Haque called the student at a restaurant a few days ago and made an indecent proposal to her. Despite being denied by the student, Anamul kept on proposing the same repeatedly. At one point, the student recorded Anamul's conversation with her over the phone and placed the complaint in writing to the head of the department.
After receiving the complaint on 14 August, the music department formed a committee to investigate the allegation on 16 August. On the same day, the academic committee of the department held a meeting where most of the teachers opined for relieving him from academic activities for a year.
Anamul pleaded guilty to the probe body and apologised. On 17 August, the probe committee reported the allegation to be true. The recommendation to relive Anamul was finalised on the same.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, music department chairman Debprasad Dawn said, “The recommendation to relieve Anamul from all sorts of academic activities was finalised based on the opinions of most of the teachers of the department. It will be officially sent to the university authorities very soon. The jurisdiction to take any decision regarding this lies with the university authorities.”
Meanwhile, the music department students from all the existing batches have submitted an application to the department head demanding permanent exemption of Anamul Haque.
When asked about the matter, Debprosad Dawn said, “The academic committee of our department will hold a meeting in this regard tomorrow (Sunday). The decision regarding this will be taken at the meeting based on the opinions of the teachers.”
Meanwhile, Prothom Alo could not reach accused Anamul Haque for his comment despite trying him over the phone repeatedly on Friday and Saturday.