Two policemen suspended over harassment of female model

Two members of Dhaka Metropolitan Police's (DMP) Gulshan Division have been suspended for allegedly harassing and physically assaulting a female model and her husband in the capital's Banani area on Tuesday (19 April) night.

Both of the accused were serving as constables in the DMP, and had been assigned as the driver and bodyguard of an additional deputy commissioner of the DMP's Gulshan Division, Gulshan Division Deputy Commissioner Md Asaduzzaman told The Business Standard. 

Going live on Facebook from Dhaka's Banani, the model, Sadiya A Suchita claimed after Iftar she was crossing the road around Sheraton Hotel in Banani; she noticed that two people were checking out her. Sensing the matter her husband Sazzad Bin Azad barred them and requested them not to do that, Sadiya A Suchita said. 

"While they were not complying with the request, my husband warned them he would gouge their eyes if they wouldn't stop staring at me," she said on a Facebook live.

The two policemen then tied her husband and started assaulting him physically and also tore his shirt off, she said.

Amid the scuffle, the policemen also pulled her scarf, Sadiya A Suchita claimed on Facebook live.

"I was trying to save my husband from their attack and one of them also pushed me down and I was struck by a vehicle," she added.

"No one came to save us, they were just watching it all the way," 

"They didn't stop even after assaulting and harassing us, they even paid the eyewitnesses to give statements against us, later we went to a Facebook live and narrated the horrific experience of my life, however then Gulshan Division Deputy Commissioner and Banani Police Station officer in charge rushed to the spot and then took us to the Banani Police station," she added. 

"We lodged a complaint with the Banani police station and immediately two constables from Gulshan Division have been suspended from their duty. Now we want seek that they should get punishment. We are relying on the police at any situation but we can't ecpect this kind of behavior from the policemen. We also want assurance that our normal life wouldn't be hampered" she added. 

While talking to the media, Deputy Commissioner of Gulshan Zone Md Asaduzzaman said that the two accused policemen have been suspended based on the allegations brought during the Facebook live.

A committee has been formed to investigate the issue, he added.