Overview
- Video circulating online shows a woman using a brush to apply black ink to Tagore’s painted portrait on a wall outside Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Segunbagicha.
- Law enforcement officers intervened at the scene and later detained four people, who were transferred to the Detective Branch for questioning and remain under investigation.
- The woman seen in the footage told reporters she acted in protest and accused Tagore of opposing the University of Dhaka, a claim that historians and other accounts have disputed.
- The mural was part of a recent footpath renovation that displayed ten Bengali cultural figures, a selection that had already drawn criticism for including personalities from West Bengal and excluding women.
- Authorities say they have found no evidence so far of a broader plot to provoke unrest, and investigators are watching the case closely because the incident could heighten tensions ahead of the Durga Puja festival.