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India
Dhaka: A statue called 'Lady Justice' was removed on Friday from Bangladesh's Supreme Court complex, after an outcry from religious hardliners.
According to the hardliners, the statue, a variation on the Greek goddess Themis but in a saree, goes against Islam, bdnews24 reported.
The statue erected in December 2016, holding a sword and the scales of justice in her hands, amounts to idolatry, they added.
But sculptor Mrinal Haque said it was not a statue of the Greek goddess, but a Bengali woman.
In April, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the statue's removal.
In reaction to criticism over her approval, Hasina said she had asked Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha why the statue of a Greek goddess had been distorted by having it clad in a saree, reports bdnews24.
"Why shouldn't it be removed? Don't they see that it is no more Greek. It's half Greek, half Bengali. It's Greek-Bengali now. Don't they see it?" she inquired.
The work to remove the statue started on Thursday night at around 9 p.m., and took about three hours to completely dismantle it, authorities said.
More than 50 demonstrators from the rights group Ganajagaran Mancha, mostly students, gathered in front of the court to protest against the removal.
