Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh on Tuesday expressed regret for using ‘objectionable’ remarks on Tuesday, a day after the organisation was served a legal notice over the allegation of calling members of the women affairs reform commission ‘prostitutes’ publicly.
Hefazat joint secretary general Azizul Haque Islamabadi in a statement sent to the media claimed that two speakers at a rally on May 3 ‘unintentionally’ used objectionable language, which the organisation did not support.
‘We are expressing regret to the persons if anyone is hurt by this,’ read the statement, signed by the organisation’s office secretary Afsar Mahmud.
Six women, including three leaders of the National Citizen Party, on Monday served a legal notice on the Hefazat over abusive remarks.
The six women were NCP leaders Syeda Nilima Dola, Dyuti Aranno Chowdhury and Nila Afroz, and writers Umme Raihana, Umme Farhana and Kameliya Sharmin Chura, said a statement signed by Nilima and Dyuti.
They alleged that Hefazat leaders used the abusive term for women at a rally held at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital Dhaka on May 3.
Hefazat organised the rally pressing for the immediate cancellation of women affairs reform commission and its report and trial of the 2013 Shapla Square massacre and other demands.
The abusive remarks at the rally and the beating of woman’s effigy with shoes on the Dhaka University premises sparked debates and protests.
Hefazat, however, in a statement on Sunday, denied its involvement in beating effigy.
