Dhaka: Mrinal Haque, sculptor of the statue of ‘lady justice’ which was removed from the High Court premises early on Friday, claimed the sculpture was removed following pressure from high-up.

The statue of Greek goddesses Themis was removed from the Supreme Court premises in Dhaka in the early hours of Friday.

Some workers started removing the statue at about on Thursday night and concluded the removal early on Friday. However, the sculptor Mrinal Huq was present during the removal work.

Mrinal Haque, who was standing near the main gate of the Supreme Court, told journalists, ‘I was forced to take down the statue. I came here to see the removal work. They (the workers) would damage it if they took it down without me.’

Mrinal Huq said the sculpture would be taken away from the front of the Supreme Court and will be installed in front of the annex building of the same court.

He said, ‘This is a slap in the face of progressive people in this country,’, as dozens of young secular activists staged a protest as the statue was removed amid heavy security.

Several political and social organisations declared to hold protest and procession on Friday.

Earlier, on February 2017, Hardline Islamists including Hefajat-e-Islam staged protests calling for the statue of Greek goddess installed at the Supreme Court to be destroyed or removed.

The sculpture of Themis, the blindfolded deity of justice and order, has ruffled feathers in the country since it was unveiled on December, 2016 on the premises of Bangladesh Supreme Court.

On April 2017, Earlier on April 8, a writ was filed with the High Court seeking removal of the statue from the Supreme Court premises.

According to the writ petition, the installation of a statue in front of the Supreme Court is contradictory to articles 12 and 23 of the Constitution. It also hurts the religious sentiment of the people as 95 percent people of the total population are Muslims.

On 21 April, Islami Andolan Bangladesh demanded that the remove of statue before Ramadan.

Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina apparently backed the Islamists by expressing her dislike for the statue.

Sheikh Hasina broke her silence last month after inviting top Islamist leaders to her residence where she described the statue as ‘ridiculous’.

‘I don’t like it myself. It’s being called a Greek statue, but how did a Greek statue get here?’ she said.