Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh on Sunday denied its involvement in beating with shoes a saree-clad effigy of a woman on the Dhaka University campus as video clips and photographs went viral on social media sparking debates.
Hefazat secretary general Sajedur Rahman in a statement sent to the media claimed that his organisation was 鈥榥ot connected with the effigy of the fascist Sheikh Hasina, which was the object of public anger鈥�.
Referring to a post on a Facebook page, Sajedur said that student protesters of July uprising hung the effigy on May 1 with which Hefazat had no connection.
Sajedur alleged that ousted Awami League accomplices were spreading misinformation linking the incident with Hefazat.
鈥榃e think that the incident occurred mainly as a consequence of public anger towards fascist Hasina,鈥� read the statement, signed by the organisation鈥檚 joint secretary general Azizul Haque Islamabadi.
The video clips showed that the incident happened at the base of the Anti-Terrorism Raju Memorial sculpture in which the effigy, clad in a sari and full-sleeved blouse, was hung from a stand labelled 鈥楯agrata July鈥� (vigilant July).
In one of the clips, several individuals, including a middle-aged man in beard and a prayer cap with two others in casual attire, were seen hitting the effigy with sandals. The effigy from its neck upward was covered in a black cloth. At one point of their beating the sari fell off, though they later put it back on.
On the day, Hefazat held a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan adjacent to the DU campus, pressing for the immediate cancellation of women affairs reform commission and its report and trial of the 2013 Shapla Square massacre and other demands.
