2 Hindu teachers jailed for 'insulting Islam'

A court has jailed two teachers in southern Bangladesh for making derogatory comments about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, invoking a rare law from the British colonial era that makes insulting any religion a crime.

The case began when students at Hijla High School in Bagerhat district complained that the assistant teacher of a science class on Sunday dismissed the Quran as the word of Allah and said there was no heaven, Magistrate Anwar Parvez told The Associated Press late on Tuesday.

The students, aged 17 to 18, along with others from a nearby Islamic school became incensed when the high school's head teacher backed up his colleague. A mob including students, parents and villagers attacked the teachers with sticks, forcing them to lock themselves in a room until police intervened, Parvez said.