DU music teacher Leena Taposi accused of plagiarism

News Desk :
Mohoshina Akter Khanom aka Leena Taposi Khan, a Dhaka University teacher, has been accused of plagiarism by Iffat Ara Nargis, a former director general at the National Academy for Educational Management, reports bdnews24.com
Nargis raised the allegation at a media briefing at Dhaka University’s Reporters Association on Sunday. She said the associate professor of music department resorted to plagiarism in at least 38 parts in her book ‘Nazrul Sangeet e Raag er Byabohar’ (Use of Ragas in Nazrul Sangeet).
Taposi, however, denies the charges as “false and fake”.
Nargis says 169 pages of the 277-page book were copied directly from others’ works.
Among these, 80 pages in the book were scanned from notation books published by the Nazrul Institute and Nazrul Academy without any reference to the original works.
The other plagiarised materials in the book were from Rabindranath Tagore’s Geetabitan and Nazrul Geetika, Idris Ali’s ‘Nazrul Sangeeter Sur’, Jagat Ghatak and Kazi Aniruddha’s ‘Nabarag’, Shyamaprasad Mukhopadhyay’s ‘Nazrul Srista Raag O Bandish’, Kakali Sen’s ‘Faiyazi Aloke Nazrul Geeti’, among others that were used without giving credit, said Nargis.
Nargis said Taposi presented this as her PhD thesis in May 2010 and it was then published by the Nazrul Institute as a book in 2011.
Based on the reference, Taposi was promoted from assistant professor to associate professor in 2016.
Nargis said she had previously raised the issue with the vice-chancellor of the university and syndicate members but to no avail.
She demanded the cancellation of Taposi’s PhD degree and all the benefits available for the degree as per the law of the university. Nargis also demanded the authorities strip Taposi of her Nazrul Padak.
Md Akhtaruzzaman, the vice chancellor of Dhaka University, said he had no idea about the issue. “We will look into it if someone files a complaint.”
Taposi said, “The allegations against me are all lies and false. She (Nargis) did this for deception and for self-promotion. I will protest this formally.”