Police constable Nazmul Tareq was suspended on Monday over harassing a female lecturer of Tejgaon College in Dhaka for wearing bindi (teep).
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) deputy commissioner Faruk Hossain confirmed the development to Prothom Alo.
Faruk Hossain said a two-membered committee has been formed to probe the incident. The committee has been asked to submit the investigation report by next three days.
Tejgaon zone police identified the constable Nazmul scrutinising the CCTV footage. He works at the security department of DMP.
Tejgaon zone deputy commissioner Biplop Kumar Sarker told media that “We have talked to him. The accused police member said the incident happened at Tejgaon College area. The facts will come out in the investigation.”
Lata Samaddar, a a lecturer of theatre and media studies department at the Tejgaon College, was harassed in broad daylight by a policeman in the capital’s Farmgate area on Saturday.
“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.
According to the complaint, when she approached the policeman and protested the abuse, he left the area running his motorbike over her toe. Lata Samaddar also mentioned that the abuse hurled by the policeman was not worth repeating.
Soon after the incident, a shocked Lata went to three traffic policemen who were on duty just on the opposite side of the road. When she disclosed her ordeal, they advised her to lodge a complaint with police, according to Lata.
The incident sparked a huge outcry among various sections of people.
A protest rally was organised on Sunday while different women's rights organisations extended solidarity with Lata Samaddar and asked the authorities to identify the policeman and bring him to book.
Ruling Awami-league (AL) parliamentarian Suborna Mustafa also expressed her wrath in the Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) on Sunday over the incident.
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?”