DU teacher jailed over alleged sexual harassment of male student

Bangla Press Desk: A Dhaka court on Friday sent Professor Dr. Ershad Halim of the Dhaka University (DU) Chemistry department to jail in a case filed over allegations of sexual harassment of male students.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbub Alam passed the order after police produced him before the court, seeking his detention.

During the hearing, his lawyer, Shyamal Kumar Roy, applied for bail. He said his client had been implicated in the case to harass him. Stating that no such incident of sexual harassment occurred, he said Dr. Halim is a victim of internal office politics.

Earlier on Thursday, police arrested Ershad Halim from his residence in Shewrapara in the capital.

According to the case documents, Dr. Ershad Halim allegedly sexually assaulted a student from the Dhaka University Chemistry department.

The student had gone to Dr. Ershad for help with a lab exam issue on September 26. The professor asked him to come to his Shewrapara residence on September 27. When the student went there, Dr. Ershad allegedly sexually assaulted him and threatened him not to tell anyone.

Ershad Halim called the student the following day, saying he would be given a chance to take the exam in the evening shift. He also asked the student to come to his residence again that day, a request the student did not comply with.

As the victim was mentally distraught and went to his village, Ershad then threatened him and demanded he return to Dhaka to spend the night at his residence.

When the victim returned to Dhaka on October 10, Ershad called and again asked him to come to his residence. The student complied, fearing that if his family found out about the exam issue, his already ill father would become more sick.

On October 14, after the student went to the residence, Dr. Ershad beat him and committed perverted sexual acts. The student filed a case at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station on Friday regarding this incident, in which he alleged that Ershad Halim had sexually assaulted several other students. This article was originally published on the Daily Sun.

BP/ZE