Mob Besieges Police Station in Dhaka

In yet another incident of lawlessness in Bangladesh, an agitating mob identifying themselves as “Tawhidi Janata” besieged the capital’s Shahbagh police station in the early hours of Thursday, according to local media reports. 

The crowd staged a sit-in protest demanding the release of a man who was detained for harassing a female student at Dhaka University, one of the top universities of the Islamic nation.

Shahbagh police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Khalid Mansur said, “The boy sexually harassed the female student of Dhaka University. The girl filed a complaint in this regard at the proctor’s office and the police station. Necessary action has been taken in view of this.”

The police stated that Arnob, the accused, works as a bookbinder at the Dhaka University library.

The mob claimed the accused had “merely approached the female student in a decent manner” and was fulfilling an “Islamic moral obligation” by advising her on modest dressing.

They also threatened to file a defamation and theft case against the student if the complaint against the accused was not withdrawn.

Speaking to the leading Bangladeshi daily, The Dhaka Tribune, the complainant stated that she was returning with a friend from a tutoring session on Wednesday afternoon when the alleged harasser approached her.

She further added that the accused questioned her about her attire, asking why her scarf was not in the “right place” and why she was “roaming around like this” instead of dressing more appropriately. When she tried to call her friends and the university proctor, the accused reportedly fled to evade capture.

Later, Dhaka University Proctor Saifuddin Ahmed told the leading Bangladeshi newspaper, The Daily Star, that “Around 4.30 pm on Wednesday, we received a complaint that one of our students was harassed by our library’s assistant bookbinder, Arnob. Later, some students brought him to my office. When we questioned him, he admitted to the harassment. We then handed him over to the police.”

Earlier this week, a group of protestors, under the banner of ‘Bangladesh against rape and oppression,’ burnt the effigy of Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, demanding his resignation following the remarks made by the home advisor regarding the harassment of two young women over smoking in public at Dhaka’s Lalmatia.

The protestors, accusing the home adviser of incompetence, alleged that cases of rape, murder, mob violence and moral policing are on the rise across Bangladesh.

Several cases of sexual violence against women were also reported in February 2025. The Bangladesh Mahila Parishad earlier condemned the increasing incidents of crime against women while questioning the effectiveness of law enforcement in Bangladesh.

—IANS