Tourism and hospitality management students at Rajshahi University on Monday staged demonstrations on the campus, demanding permanent removal of their teacher Tanzil Bhuiyan for reportedly sexually harassing female students and threatening them with lawsuits.
Witnesses said that the students gathered in front of the teacher鈥檚 personal chamber in the morning, put an additional lock on the door and staged a demonstration there.
The agitating students alleged that the teacher had for long been making obscene remarks and passes at female students, threatened them and posted inappropriate comments on social media.
A third-year female student said that assistant professor Tanzil Bhuiyan often made offensive remarks about women鈥檚 bodies, saying things like 鈥榶our waist swings nicely鈥� or 鈥榪ueen of the night.鈥�
She alleged that students from almost every batch since the department鈥檚 inception had been enduring his obscene advances, while they also had video of an incident in which he allegedly tried to assault students.
The students further alleged that Tanzil even weaponised his marking authority to punish those who dared to reject his advances, giving them lesser marks in exam papers.
鈥楨ven the way he looks at us is intimidating. We are now afraid to attend his classes,鈥� she added.
Another student, Mehedi Hasan, alleged that the teacher had also threatened to file cases and physically assaulted students in addition to harassing female classmates.
When contacted, assistant professor Tanzil Bhuiyan, however, dismissed the allegations as 鈥榝abricated and conspiratorial鈥�.
He said that the whole issue began when a female student from the first batch brought male students into the girls鈥� room and took drugs during a tour.
鈥楢s I intervened, that student began spreading false accusations against me. Some senior students are now provoking others to join them,鈥� he alleged.
Regarding the allegations of threatening students, Tanzil said that he had only mentioned filing a case if anything happened to his wife, who is also a student at the department.