Hindu homes, temples being targeted again in Bangladesh Narail district over Facebook post

According to a report by legal rights group Ain O Salish Kendra, 3,679 attacks were carried out on the Hindu community in Bangladesh between January 2013 and September 2021.

Desk: Hindu homes and temples are again being attacked in a fresh bout of violence against minority Hindu community in Bangladesh Narail district Lohagara areas. 

According to newspapers from Bangladesh as well as social media reports the Islamists have attacked several homes after leveling false allegations about a Facebook post.

According to Bangladesh newspapers, the police had to resort to firing to disperse a mob that torched several homes in Digholia village Friday evening.

The mob of Muslims also targeted a temple of the village and threw stones at it.

The police said that the locals have objected to a Facebook post made by a Hindu boy. The father of the boy was arrested, while no attacker from the mob was apprehended. 

Radharaman Das, vice president & spokesperson ISKCON in a late night tweet informed that attacks were continuing. He said: “Distressing news coming from #Bangladesh. Hindus are attacked again by Muslims in Narail. They are burning their houses, temples and shops.” 

He also tagged the PMO of India and asked: “To maintain good relationship with Bangladesh, why we need to ignore the sufferings of Bangladeshi Hindus?”

A newspaper report quoted Narail Superintendent of Police Prabir Kumar Roy as saying that the law enforcers were working to keep the situation under control. “We’re  investigating the incident. Those responsible for the violence will face action. The situation is normal for now.”

Locals identified the young Hindu man who uploaded the Facebook post as Akash Saha, son of Ashok Saha of Sahapara.

As tension mounted over the post after Friday prayers, a group of Muslims demonstrated outside their home in the afternoon. They attacked the homes later.

Attacks on religious minorities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh are increasingly taking place, and many of them happened after rumours or fake posts spread through social media.

According to a report by legal rights group Ain O Salish Kendra, 3,679 attacks were carried out on the Hindu community in Bangladesh between January 2013 and September 2021.

Narail district is known for atrocities against minorities in the recent times. Recently, police have arrested three people on suspicion of involvement in an incident in which a college teacher Swapan Kumar Biswas was garlanded with shoes in Bangladesh’s Narail district.

What was shocking is that the local police registered a case of vandalism and harassment against the teacher several days after the incident.

The incident started on June 18 after a post by a student of that college in Narail on Facebook in support of India’s BJP leader Nupur Sharma, who was criticized for his comments about the Prophet of Islam. On that day, in the presence of top officials of Narail district and police administration, the locals put a garland of shoes around the neck of the teacher.Bangladesh has seen a sharp fall in Hindu population for the last several decades.

Atrocities against Hindu community is neither reported by the local media, nor given any importance by the political parties. In fact, political parties are in cahoots with the extremist outfits being indoctrinated by Islamist forces based in Pakistan.