Teachers at Jahangirnagar University (JU) have strongly condemned the alleged public humiliation and physical harassment of a Chittagong University (CU) lecturer during an admission test, warning that such incidents pose a grave threat to the country’s higher education environment.
The Nationalist Teachers’ Forum of Jahangirnagar University expressed deep concern over the incident involving Hasan Mohammad, a lecturer of the Law Department at Chittagong University, who was reportedly harassed in public and forcibly taken to the proctor’s office while admission examinations were underway.
In a statement issued on Sunday (January 11), signed by the forum’s president Professor Shamsul Alam and general secretary Professor Jamal Uddin, the organisation said the humiliation and physical mistreatment of a university teacher is an “ominous sign” for Bangladesh’s education system.
The statement stressed that even if there are disagreements over opinions or controversies related to a teacher’s past role, accountability must be ensured strictly through legal and administrative processes. “Under no circumstances can ‘mob justice’ be accepted,” the forum said.
The JU teachers further claimed that in recent times, the activities of certain student groups have led to a worrying rise in mob culture and the harassment of teachers on university campuses, severely disrupting the normal academic and research environment.
Calling for a swift, impartial investigation into the incident, the forum demanded legal action against those responsible and criticised the university administration for failing to ensure teachers’ safety. It also urged authorities to implement strict anti-mob policies across all campuses to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Hasan Mohammad was later released after being held for around nine hours, according to related reports.
