Case against Hriday Mondal: Plaintiff had little say

The office assistant, who filed the case against math teacher Hriday Chandra Mondal, said he had no say over the matter as the complaint was not written in his presence.

"The head teacher told me to be the plaintiff [complainant] and I agreed. Neither the head teacher nor the police consulted me about the matter," said Asad Miah, office assistant at Binodpur Ram Kumar High School in Munshiganj, yesterday.

He added that he was called to Munshiganj Sadar Police Station by the head teacher. The complaint had already been written by the time he reached there on March 23 night.

Hriday was arrested in the case that day on charges of "hurting religious sentiments".

About filing of the case, Asad added, "Police read out the statement to me. Then, I signed it…. Police wrote the complaint and told the headteacher that someone has to be the plaintiff."

He told The Daily Star that he knew nothing more about it.

Contacted, head teacher Alauddin Ahmed said, "I did not ask him [Asad] to be the plaintiff. I don't even know who asked him to be the plaintiff."

The complaint seen by this paper said Hriday had been making derogatory comments about Islam. But Asad yesterday said that the allegation was not true and that he never heard Hriday making such comments about the religion.

On March 20, Hriday had a conversation with students about the difference between science and religion. Later that day, a group of students handed the head teacher a written complaint, stating that Hriday made derogatory comments on Islam.

On March 22, police detained Hriday.

The Daily Star has a video clip showing Hriday talking to some people a few moments before his arrest. Hriday was seen saying, "…I did not make any derogatory comment over Islam."

Asad said he was not even present when Hriday had the conversation with the students.

Hriday's brother-in-law Badal Hawlader said police framed Hriday after taking benefits from a vested quarter.

Contacted, Officer-in-Charge Abu Bakkar Siddique of the police station said, "The school authorities filed the case and we just recorded it."