On Tuesday (4th February), a 22-year-old man named Firdous Mohammed Farid was arrested on charges of setting fire to several copies of the Quran in 7 residential halls of the Rajshahi University in Bangladesh.
A 5th-semester student of the Department of Management Studies at the varsity, Firodus carried out the act of burning the Quran on 12th January this year. He is a native of Mymensingh.
According to the police, Firdous set fire to copies of the Quran in the Shaheed Amir Ali Hall, Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Hall, Shaheed Habibur Rahman Hall, Madar Baksh Hall, Motihar Hall, Suhrawardy Hall, Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Haque Hall of the Rajshahi University.
Thereafter, he fled the scene. There was an outcry on the campus, particularly by radical Muslim student groups. Firdous went into hiding in different parts of Bangladesh including Jessore, Dhaka and Mymensingh.
So far, the police have found no political affiliations of Firdous. The accused claims to be mentally disturbed.
