Faculty of Fine Arts condemns torching house of artist-sculptor Manabendra

The Faculty of Fine Arts of Dhaka University has condemned the incident of torching the house of artist-sculptor Manabendra Ghosh, a prominent alumni of the faculty.

The faculty in a press release on Wednesday condemned the incident.

The press release also said that several people involved in the Pahela Baishakh parade, the traditional procession marking the Bengali New Year, are being threatened by foreign phone numbers.

"The annual Ananda Shobhajatra 1432 has already been completed smoothly. However, two motifs were burnt in an attack by miscreants on the previous day with the aim of trying to sabotage the procession. Despite this, the Ananda Shobhajatra has been fully successful by repairing and reconstructing motifs with the dedicated efforts of the students," said the press release.

The release said, "The house of prominent alumni of the Faculty of Fine Arts artist-sculptor Manabendra Ghosh was set on fire at approximately 3:30am today, Wednesday. He, along with other artists, assisted the students in making the motifs. We, on behalf of Ananda Shobhajatra 1432 Committee and the Faculty of Fine Arts, strongly condemn this. We also demand the culprits are identified and brought to justice as soon as possible.”

The press release further mentioned that for the past few days, several people involved in the parade have been threatened by foreign phone numbers.

On Tuesday night, miscreants set fire to Manabendra Ghosh’s house at Chandair Ghosher Bazar area in Manikganj Sadar.

Manabendra told Prothom Alo that miscreants had been threatening him on social media since the day before Pahela Boishakh. He was threatened for allegedly making various sculptures, including the face of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in the Ananda Shobhajatra on the occasion of Pahela Baishakh. However, he did not make Hasina's face, rather made a tiger motif.

Manabendra said that he filed a general diary (GD) with Sadar Police Station on Tuesday regarding the threats received on Facebook. But his house was set afire at night. Many valuable paintings made by him were burnt in the fire.

According to family and police sources, they spotted the fire at around 3:00am on Tuesday. The members of the family called the fire service. Fire service members arrived at around 4:00am and brought the fire under control.

Deputy Commissioner Md Monowar Hossain Molla, senior officials of the district police and members of the police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) visited the scene.

Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar circle) Md Salahuddin said that members of the CID have left from Dhaka to investigate the incident.