Teacher suspended over prophet remarks
Aug 2, 2011
A Hindu teacher in Muslim-majority Bangladesh has been suspended after allegedly making offensive remarks about the prophet Mohammed that triggered angry protests, an official said on Tuesday.
Madan Mohan Das, a teacher at a government high school, is the second Hindu teacher in two weeks to be removed from his post after alleged remarks about Islam’s prophet triggered street protests in the capital Dhaka.
“Das has been suspended effective from Sunday pending further investigation,” education ministry spokesman Subodh Chandra Dhali said.
Das is accused of making disparaging comments about the prophet’s many wives that were seen as particularly insulting when coming from a Hindu and so prompted major protests by Islamic groups outside Dhaka’s main mosque.
He was initially transferred to a remote school in the country’s north as punishment but ongoing public protests prompted state education authorities to take further action.
In July, English language teacher Shankar Biswas was sacked for making similar remarks at his school in the southern district of Gopalganj.
About 90 percent of Bangladesh’s 142 million people are Muslims, and religious issues often erupt into unrest.
Recent protests have focused on an Islamic pledge that has been removed from the constitution by the secular ruling party.
There were also violent protests in 2006 after a Danish newspaper printed cartoons of the prophet.
In 2009, a local newspaper cartoonist was jailed briefly for hurting religious feelings after a drawing showed a small boy suggesting that all cats should be named Mohammed. – AFP
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