A total of 162 citizens, including academics, activists, journalists, and artists, on Saturday issued a joint statement condemning the recent expulsion of a transgender student named Sahara Chowdhury from a private university.
They termed the decision as unjust and discriminatory and demanded of the Metropolitan University, Sylhet authorities to revoke the expulsion order of Sahara.
Referring to reports published by different media houses and in social media posts, the statement said that a general dairy was filed against Sahara following posting two caricatures on a Facebook account named 鈥楢ntarctica Chowdhury鈥� claiming that the account was owned by Sahara.
It was also claimed that Independent University, Bangladesh teacher Mohammad Sorowar Hossain and Manarat International University teacher Asif Mahtab Utsha received death threats.
Sahara also lodged a complaint with police citing threats and insecurity from Sorowar, Utsha, and several others, read the statement.
The signatories in the statement expressed grave concern that a group led by Sorowar and Utsha had systematically spread hatred against gender-diverse communities, portraying them as killable and untouchable for past few years.
They also accused the group of spoiling the teaching profession by using their identity as teachers to spread hatred, enmity and division in society.
The Metropolitan University authorities expelled Sahara on August 13 under pressure from organised groups, without giving any specific reason, stated the statement.
The signatories raised some questions 鈥� On what grounds was Sahara expelled? Was she given a chance to defend herself before such a severe punishment?
They also raised a four-point demand, including immediate withdrawal of the expulsion of Sahara and assurance of equal opportunities for gender-diverse students in educational institutions, and constitutional recognition and protection of the distinct identities and rights of all marginalised gender and sexual minorities.
The demands also included the adoption and enforcement of effective gender-sensitive codes of conduct across all educational institutions to ensure diversity and inclusion, and public apology from Sorowar and Utsha for their repeated insensitive behaviour and for spreading hatred and division in society.
The signatories of the statement included former Jahangirnagar University professor Anu Muhammad, Grand Valley State University professor Azfar Hussain, Dhaka University professor Samina Luthfa, lawyer Manzur Al Matin and journalist Saydia Gulrukh.