Dhaka University teacher sued under digital security law for hurting religious sentiments

A Dhaka University teacher has been sued under the Digital Security Act on charges insulting religious sentiments in the social media.

Law Department’s Professor Sheikh Hafizur Rahman Karzon stands accused of hurting Hindu religious sentiments in a recent post on Facebook.

On Sunday, Amit Bhowmik, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu Jubo Parishad, filed a case against Karzon with the capital’s Shahbagh police station, according to media reports.

"We will investigate and take action," OC Mahfuzul Haque Bhuiyan told an English daily.

Prof Karzon's Facebook post "was unpleasant and defamatory; it hurt crores of Hindu people's religious sentiments as it went viral on the social media," reads the complaint.

"Prof Karzon posted it on purpose to create religious discord and to embarrass the government of a non-communal country," it added.

On July 24, a general diary was lodged on the matter before filing of the case.

A delegation of the Bangladesh Hindu Lawyers' Council, led by its president Sumon Kumar Roy, met with DU Vice-Chancellor Md Akhtaruzzaman on July 31 and filed a written complaint against Prof Karzon.

Describing his post as a “satire”, the DU teacher said he took it down soon after realizing that it would hurt religious sensitivities.

“I publicly apologized for it in a subsequent post. The case is meant to harass me,” said Karzon