An alleged cop in Bangladesh assaulted a Hindu woman verbally and physically for wearing a bindi (a coloured dot worn between the eyebrows, especially by Hindu women), according to local media reports.

Lota Sumaddaer, a theatre and media studies lecturer at Tejgaon College in Dhaka, alleged that a “man in uniform” harassed her after spotting bindi on her forehead while she was going to the campus on Saturday morning.

She said the incident took place near Shezan Point shopping mall around 8. 30am.

“A policeman in uniform was sitting there on a parked motorbike. When I was passing by, he started harassing me, seeing a teep (bindi) on my forehead and hurling abuse at me. As I protested, he started the bike and tried to run me over. I tried to move away but got injured severely by falling,” The Daily Star newspaper quoted said Lata as saying.

The woman then filed a complaint with the police and provided the registration number of the motorcycle. Lota said that she could not remember the police officer’s name.

Even though the identity of the accused is yet to be verified, a senior police officer confirmed that he was indeed one of the cops, the Dhaka-based newspaper reported.

The incident caused outrage among civil society activists who staged a protest in the Bangladesh capital demanding immediate arrest of the alleged cop.

Noted actor and ruling Awami League parliamentarian Subarna Mustafa demands action against the policeman harassing the woman.

The incident also sparked a major outcry on social media with many women sharing pictures with bindi on their foreheads as a form of protest, The Daily Star reported.

Meanwhile, multiple police teams have been formed to locate the accused man, Biplob Kumar Sarkar, deputy commissioner (Tejgaon division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Daily Star.

(With inputs from agencies)