2 held over attempted sexual harassment of 2 JU students

Police have arrested two youths after the filing of a case on Saturday night over the attempted sexual harassment of two Jahangirnagar University (JU) students at a shopping mall in Savar.

The arrested are Md Shahin, 27, son of Mohammad Ali from Rajashan area in Savar, and Md Saiful Islam, 24, son of Gias Uddin of Deoga area in Savar.

Both are employees of a shop named Maestro, located on the 2nd floor of Savar New Market.

One of the victims, a journalism department student, told The Business Standard, "We went shopping at New Market around 8.30 pm on Friday. At one point, when we entered the shop Maestro, two employees deliberately lowered the shutters and tried to harass us sexually. We then started screaming. They opened the shutter when nearby people started gathering around hearing our scream."

There was no other buyer in the shop at that time, she added.

She said, "This kind of sexual harassment is by no means an isolated incident. We, the girls, are constantly facing such harassment in this society. The two of us were so traumatised since the incident that we did not know what to do immediately."

The student alleged that the market authorities tried to cover up the matter in a casual manner, although the matter was immediately reported to them.

"The market authorities just took our contact numbers and said that they would look into the matter," she said.

Returning to their university campus, the aggrieved students then made a post on social media mentioning the whole incident, which immediately went viral triggering widespread criticism.

Officer-in-charge of Savar Model Police Station Kazi Mainul Islam told TBS, "The two accused were arrested immediately after the filing of the case on Saturday night. The accused have been sent to court on Sunday morning."

The mobile phone of Md Mamun, general manager of Savar New Market, was found switched off when TBS tried to contact him.