The parishad demanded exemplary punishment to the chairman so that this kind of incident does not repeat in future.

Former chairman of Haripur union parishad Mahbubul Haque announced on Thursday that traders will be fined Tk 500 if they sell any commodity to women. He said the decision was taken with the consent of the elders of the area to stop anti-social activities in the marketplace.

After the announcement made through loudspeaker, women stopped coming to the Haripur market for Eid shopping and those who came were not able to buy anything from the shops.

The Mahila Parishad statement said fatwa is a violation of women's democratic and civic rights. "This cannot be the picture of any civilised society," it added.