Rabindra University authorities  suspended teacher Farhana Yeasmin Baten from academic and administrative activities for three academic years for trimming the hair of its 14 students. An office order on the final decision of the university authorities, signed by registrar Sohrab Hossain, was hanged on the notice board on Sunday. According to the office order, Farhana, an associate professor of Cultural Heritage and Bangladesh Studies Department, has been instructed to refrain from all academic and administrative activities including taking classes and exams, until the end of the academic activities of 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 academic years. Read:Haircut humiliation: Probe body recommends action against teacher Farhana Regarding the decision, students, who have been demanding termination of the teacher,  said that it would have been better if such a decision had been taken by the Academic Council at the beginning of the movement. However, the university authorities took such a decision in favor of accused teacher Farhana Yeasmin, the students alleged. Earlier on September 26, Farhana Yeasmin Baten, also the chair of the Cultural Heritage and Bangladesh Studies Department, was charged with forcibly cutting the hair of 16 students. The following day, Nazmul Hasan Tuhin, a student, tried to take his own life by consuming sleeping pills, prompting the university students to burst into protests. They also boycotted all the exams and classes on September 28. Amid the protests, Farhana relinquished her three administrative positions on the same day. Read: RUB haircut humiliation: Students on indefinite hunger strike demanding termination of accused teacher Later, a five-member probe body was formed to investigate the incident. The university finally suspended Farhana on September 30. On October 24, Shamim Hossain, a third-year student of Cultural Heritage and Bangladesh Studies, reportedly attempted to kill himself by swallowing poison demanding termination of Farhana. Two days later, a probe committee formed by Rabindra University recommended taking action against its teacher Farhana for trimming the hair of its 14 students saying that it has found the ‘proof of her offence’.

Amid student protests, Farhana Yeasmin Baten, assistant proctor of Rabindra University, has quit three posts over her alleged involvement in trimming the hair of its 16 students as punishment and subsequent ‘suicide attempt’ by one of them. Farhana quit the three positions of assistant proctor, head of Cultural Heritage and Bangladesh Studies Department and syndicate member—and submitted resignation letters on Tuesday night. Earlier, the university authorities formed a five-member committee to probe the incident, said treasurer and acting vice-chancellor of the university Abdul Latif. According to some students of the department, Farhana asked the first-year students of the department to trim their hair. All but 16 students did not comply with her instruction as per the advice. On Sunday, while they were entering the examination halls to sit for their final exams, the teacher instructed an office assistant to trim the hair of the 16 students and he did it accordingly, the students alleged. Protesting the incident, the students boycotted the examination held on Monday and it went viral on social media following the student protest. The students also formed a human chain at the university’s temporary campus-1 in Shahzadpur Mohila Degree College area on Monday, where the assistant proctor showed up and instructed them to wrap up their protests or get failed in the exams. Unable to bear the humiliation, Nazmul Hasan Tuhin, 25, a student of the department and a resident of Magura district, consumed sleeping pills on Monday in an effort to take his own life. He was undergoing treatment at Enayetpur Khaza Yunus Ali Medical College and Hospital. However, Farhana denied the allegation and claimed that it is propaganda against her as she did not defer the exam as per the request of a few students. Contacted, additional treasurer of the university Abdul Latif said they have no idea what the issue is, and there has been no written complaint in this regard.