English national ‘The Daily Star’ has said that it has opened a probe after allegations of sexual harassments surfaced against one of its employees by former employee.
The newspaper said in a statement on Thursday that it was shocked.
In a webpost, it said that they “would like to state that in no uncertain terms that The Daily Star follows a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment and discrimination in workplace”.
It said that they were ‘seriously investigating’ the allegations surfaced on the social media.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (Nov 14), the English daily’s former reporter Alpha Arzu accused the then-chief reporter and now the Diplomatic Correspondent Rezaul Karim Lotus of sexually harassing her.
Arzu said that within a few days after the incident, she left the newspaper to work for another Dhaka-based national daily.
Despite several attempts Lotus could not be reached for a comment.
In recent weeks #MeToo gathered steam in Bangladesh, which started on Oct 30,
Bangladeshi-Irish model Maksuda Akhter Prioty alleged sexual harassment by a businessman-politician at his office in Dhaka in 2015, a year after she was crowned Miss Ireland.
But the accused, Rongdhanu Group Chairman Md Rafiqul Islam, has denied the allegations.
Prioty had modelled several products in Bangladesh after she won the crown in the Irish beauty pageant.
The 29-year-old alleged that she was sexually harassed by Rafiqul when she had gone to his office to collect payment for featuring in an advertisement for one of the group’s products.
But the group did not pay her, she alleged.
Prioty has also alleged Rafiqul had threatened her with death if she went public.
Rafiqul, who had denied the allegations soon after it surfaced on the social media, could not be reached on Wednesday for a comment.
Amid Prioty’s statement, one Shucheesmita Simonti, who studies in Europe, accused journalist Pranab Saha of sexually harassing her years ago when she was 16.
Simonti said that Saha, the editor of tv channel DBC News, being an acquaintance of her mother, frequented their home.
Simonti lodged a formal complain via e-mail with the tv station.
Saha, however, in a social media post, on Nov 6 denied the allegation. Speaking to Bangla Tribune, he said, “I have addressed the issue in a Facebook post and have nothing more to say.
He wrote in the post that the TV station authorities has decided to a form a panel by leading women’s rights activists and urged all to refrain from slandering him until he’s found guilty.
On Nov 8, one Asamaul Husna levelled allegations of sexual harassment against Jamil Ahmed, a newcaster at the state broadcaster Bangladesh Betar.
Husna accused him of molesting her back in 2013 in a Facebook post. Ahmed could not be reached for a comment despite several attempts.
On Nov 10, Tashnuva Anan accused publishing house Patthok Samabesh owner Shahidul Islam Biju of molesting.
Biju, however, dismissed the allegations.
“These are baseless. We are initiating legal measures,” he told Bangla Tribune.
The Me Too or #MeToo movement is a movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault.
It spread virally in October 2017 as a hashtag used on social media in an attempt to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace. It followed soon after the sexual misconduct allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Tarana Burke, an American social activist and community organizer, began using the phrase "Me Too" as early as 2006, and the phrase was later popularised by American actress Alyssa Milano, on Twitter in 2017. Milano and Michael Baker encouraged victims of sexual harassment to tweet about it and "give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.
This was met with success that included but was not limited to high-profile posts from several American celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Lawrence, and Uma Thurman.
