Call to boycott Mainul Hosein grows louder after Masuda Bhatti remarks

State Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs Meher Afroz Chumki has called on the women to boycott Mainul Hosein for hurling abuses at a female journalist on live TV.

She made the call at an inter-ministerial meeting held at the Shishu Academy in Dhaka on Thursday to discuss a draft national work-plan to prevent violence against women and children, the ministry said.

“Barrister Mainul Hosein’s behaviour towards journalist Masuda Bhatti was very much offensive, distasteful and dishonouring for the women,” a press release from the ministry quoted Chumki as saying.

Condemning Mainul’s remarks, the state minister demanded that he apologise publicly to the women.

Mainul’s remarks have triggered a firestorm of anger and criticism on the internet since Tuesday night when he called journalist Masuda Bhatti a ‘debauchee’ in Ekattor Journal, a talk show aired live on Ekattor TV.

There has been an outpouring of anger on the socal media about Mainul, one of the sponsors of the Dr Kamal Hossain-led new alliance with the BNP.

In the show, Masuda asked Mainul if claims made on the social media that he attends meetings of Dr Kamal’s Jatiya Oikya Front alliance as a Jamaat-e-Islami representative were true.

“I thank you for your audacity. I want to believe that you are a debauchee. I don’t have any Jamaat connections. This question of yours is very much embarrassing for me. Please ask another question,” Mainul replied.

Besides Masuda, over 100 female journalists and rights activists demanded on Wednesday that Mainul apologise publicly.

Masuda, senior executive editor of the daily Amader Orthoneeti, told bdnews24.com that Mainul told her on the phone “to not mind the remarks”.

“I’ve told him that apologising in this manner won’t do. He has made abusive remarks about me in public and now he must apologise publicly,” she added.

On Thursday, Masuda reiterated the call at a press conference organised by Bangladesh Nari Sangbadik Kendra, a centre for women journalists in the country.

The issue was ‘not personal anymore’, she observed. “It has been a hit on all the female professionals, including those in the media, and conscious citizens.”

“And when the assault comes from a senior lawyer, it becomes more than just that - an extreme insult and violation of law as well,” she added.

The Nari Sangbadik Kendra threatened legal action if Mainul does not offer a public apology.  

“Barrister Mainul must admit that he has committed a crime and apologise unconditionally in public. And he must give his word that he will refrain from attacking people personally,” the Kendra’s President Nasimun Ara Haque Minu said.    

“We will take legal action if he does not meet our demand at the earliest,” she added.

She also urged the media to spurn Mainul.

Besides the journalists, writer Anwara Syed Haq and activist Nuzhat Choudhury, among others, spoke at the news conference where they condemned Mainul’s remarks and called for his boycott.  

Mainul, who is also the chairman of the editorial board of The New Nation, has sent an explanation of his remarks to the media.

He believes the explanation is “necessary because a quarter is using offensive language about him even after he offered an apology to Masuda by phone”.

Mainul said he “questioned the character of Masuda’s impartiality in journalism after she made very objectionable and insulting comments about my political entity and honesty”.

“I don’t know her personally so the question of saying something about her personal character does not arise,” he added.

Mainul also said he was aware that “people were making disgusting comments about her personal character on Facebook, but I am not mentioning these in my remarks”.