Hindu Teachers Jailed After Derogatory Remarks About Islam
By Staff Writer | Apr 27, 2016 04:38 AM EDT
Two Hindu teachers are put to jail after making disparaging remarks about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. This effectuates a rare law from the British colonial era that makes insulting any religion a crime.
According to The Hindu report, the case started when Hijla High School students in Bagerhat district complained of the assistant science class teacher on Sunday about removing the word "Quran" as the word of Allah and mentioned there was no heaven.
Magistrate Anwar Parvez said on Tuesday that a mob of parents, students and villagers assailed the teachers with sticks from a small Hindu community forcing themselves to lock up in a room until police came. The assistant teacher admitted his fault to publicly insulting a religion making him and the school's head teacher sentenced to jail for six months.
The high school students whose ages are from 17 to 18 became angered along with other people nearby when the high school's head teacher backed up the assistant teacher.
"The situation went out of control," Parvez said, adding the mob "wanted to take law in their hands."
Bangladesh which is Muslim in majority is politically damaged between wanting Islamic rule and secularism has been churned over the last two years by an ongoing wave of lethal attacks on atheist writers, religious minorities and activists.
A gang of young men on Monday night murdered two men in Dhaka which include the editor of a gay rights magazine who also is also employed at the U.S. Agency for International Development, the abc News reported.
After two days, a liberal professor was killed in a northwestern city as claimed by Islamic State jihadists. A long-running political dangerous situation in Bangladesh has radicalized government opponents and according to analysts Islamist extremists pose a great danger, as reported by Hindustan Times.
The law against saying anything offensive about the religion established when Britain ruled the Indian Subcontinent is seldom used and its goal is to avoid communal clashes and brew violence.