New Delhi: A 50-year-old Hindu man was brutally beaten and set on fire in a midnight attack in Bangladesh’s Shariatpur, local media reported, in what is the fourth instance of violence against the minority community in the country in recent weeks.
Khokhon Das was attacked in Damudya Upazila in the Shariatpur district and has been hospitalised with severe injuries, according to a report in Prothom Alo.
The report, originally in Bangla, mentions that the assailants stopped the autorickshaw he was travelling in and beat him up. They then poured petrol on his head and set him on fire as he recognised two of them, says the report.
Das jumped into a nearby pond to save himself. The noise led to a gathering of people, who took him to a nearby hospital. The accused escaped.
Damudya Police Station officer-in-charge (OC) Mohammad Rabiul Haque told Prothom Alo, “Upon receiving news of a ‘terrorist’ attack on a businessman in Keurabhanga market, we went to the scene. The names of two of the attackers have been identified. They are local residents Rabby and Sohag. Efforts are underway to arrest them. We are also trying to identify others involved.”
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Previous attacks on Hindus
Bangladesh has witnessed a string of attacks on minorities in recent weeks. On 30 December, Bajendra Biswas, a member of Ansar, a uniformed auxiliary force under Bangladesh home ministry, was shot dead by a colleague in Mymensingh.
According to reports, his colleague Noman Mia jokingly pointed a gun at him and asked, “should I shoot you”. The firearm accidentally discharged, leading to his death.
In previous instances, Amrit Mondal was beaten to death by a mob in the Rajbari district in Bangladesh on 24 December over allegations of extortion, local reports said.
A week earlier, another Hindu man, Dipu Chandra Das, was lynched by a mob and set on fire over allegations of blasphemy in Mymensingh’s Bhaluka Upazila as violence erupted in the country post student leader Osman Hadi’s death.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh-based human rights group Manabadhikar Shongskriti Foundation noted in its 2025 report that political violence and a sharp rise in mob violence defined the country’s human rights situation the previous year.
According to MSF data, 599 incidents of political violence affected 5,604 people in Bangladesh in 2025. Of them, 86 were killed and 5,518 injured, including 97 who suffered gunshot wounds.
Bangladesh is set to go to polls in February, amid political volatility and a caretaker administration under Muhammad Yunus, after the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a student-led uprising in July 2024.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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