Kamal at Shaheed Minar with shoes on

State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and government officials stepped on to the main altar of a Shaheed Minar in Brahmanbaria with their shoes on, offending popular sensibilities.

They were attending a function in which the dais had been set on the Shaheed Minar at the Pilot High School in Sarail Sadar Upazila on Tuesday.

The guests had their shoes on when they walked up to the stage in a function presided over by Priti Chakraborty, Chairman of Dhaka’s Aysha Memorial Specialised Hospital.

Many in the audience, including the school’s students, were initially surprised seeing a stage erected on the Shaheed Minar.

Then they were doubly shocked when the guests walked on it without caring to take their shoes off.

A ninth-grader told bdnews24.com, "We have known that Shaheed Minar is venerated place where shoes are not allowed. But today we saw the guests standing on it with their shoes on."

DC Mosharraf Hossain told reporters, "We didn't know it was a Shaheed Minar."

However, one of the event organisers, the hospital’s Brahmanbaria liaison officer Sanjeeb Bhattacharya, admitted the misstep.

"It was a mistake. We can't do anything about it now," he said.

bdnews24.com tried to reach the hospital's chairman over phone for comments, but she was unavailable.

The school's headmaster Md Aiyub Khan, too, declined comment, saying he was busy when reached by phone.

Kamal was the chief guest at the programme.

Local MP Ziaul Haque Mridha, Deputy Commissioner of Brahmanbaria Mosharraf Hossain, Superintendent of Police Md Moniruzzaman, acting Upazila Nirbahi Officer Swandip Kumar Singha Roy and former Chairman of the Upazila Rafique Uddin Thakur were among other the attendees.