Hindu family threatened with death and sexual violence by a Muslim man and two of his sons, in Bangladesh

Case ID : 0d79898 | Location : Barisal District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Mon, 26 May, 2025

Case ID : 0d79898

Barisal District, Bangladesh

26 May, 2025

Hindu family threatened with death and sexual violence by a Muslim man and two of his sons, in Bangladesh

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Attacked to induce migration from non-Hindu dominated area

Case Summary

In the Barisal district of Bangladesh, a Hindu family was given death threats by a Muslim man named Alamgir and two of his sons, Anis and Yunis. According to the victim, the Muslim men abused them, and they threatened to rape Hindu girls. Furthermore, they gave death threats to the family, who made them live under constant fear for their life and safety. The Hindu family has refrained from stepping outside their home, citing repeated verbal assaults and fear for their safety. In a video that surfaced on social media, the Hindu woman was expressing her predicament and narrating the harassment she faced by the Muslim men. She stated that her son was finding it difficult to sleep at night due to fear. She further stated that they were finding it difficult to survive in that area. Additionally, an elderly Hindu man named Chittaranjan Mandal stated that Alamgir and his sons had threatened to kill them, steal their cattle, and “teach them a lesson” during the night. Despite the threats, the family has chosen not to file a police complaint, hoping that their silence might placate their Muslim neighbours.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category selected is: - Attacked for Hindu identity. In several cases, Hindus are attacked merely for their Hindu identity without any perceived provocation. A classic example of this category of religiously motivated hate crime is a murder in 2016. 7 ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they got ‘triggered’ seeing the Kalava on his wrist and tilak that he had put. In this, the Hindu victim had offered no provocation except for his Hindu religious identity. The motivation for the murder was purely religious, driven by religious supremacy. Such cases where Hindus are targeted merely for their religious identity would be documented as a hate crime under this category. The other sub-category relevant here is: - Attacked to induce migration from non-Hindu dominated area. There have been cases where the Hindus living in an area, often with a majority dwelling belonging to non-Hindus or those harbouring animosity towards the Hindu faith, the Hindu residents experience threats and violence. The violence is employed with the aim of making the Hindus leave the area and relocate, so the area could be turned into an exclusive ghetto for adherents of the non-Hindu faith or those who harbor animosity towards the Hindu faith. In several cases, the aim of exodus is explicit. However, in several cases, the demand for exodus of Hindu residents is not explicit, however, violence by non-Hindu residents leaves the Hindu residents no option but to leave the area, thereby, turning the area into an exclusive ghetto of non-Hindu residents. In such cases, there are instances violence against the Hindu residents explicitly. For example, in the Hauz Qazi case of 2019, the Muslim residents claimed that mob violence against the Hindu residents had been triggered by a parking dispute. However, the violence did turn religious with a temple being desecrated and was directed specifically against the Hindu residents. The Hindu residents of the area were clear that the violence was religiously motivated and one of the motives was to affect an exodus of the Hindu residents. In such cases, even though the perpetrators have not explicitly expressed the aim of affecting exodus, the given circumstances and violence and precedent point to the intention of exodus and therefore would be categorized under this sub-category. Such crimes are religiously motivated and therefore are hate crimes. In this case, a Hindu family was abused, given rape and death threats by a Muslim man named Alamgir and two of his sons, Anis and Yunis. While the available details do not explicitly indicate a religious motive, the broader context cannot be ignored. When there is an ongoing ethnic cleansing based on religious identity, every crime in and of itself is assumed to be motivated by the same religious animosity, even if there is a lack of a specific religious marker in the immediate crime. During an ongoing ethnic cleansing, the dehumanisation of people based on their religious identity and the normalisation of religious hostility drives the crimes committed against them, even when there is a lack of stated religious motive. For the purpose of documenting the 2024 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh, the Hinduphobia Tracker is assuming religious motivation ab initio. If a case is specifically and beyond reasonable doubt proven to be driven by motivations other than religious hostility, it will post-facto be removed from the hate crime database. Disclaimer: In this case, it is mentioned that members of 1 family were harassed. However, the exact number of individuals involved is not specified. Due to this lack of clarity, we have relied on the Bangladesh Population and Housing Census 2022, according to which, the average household size in Bangladesh is 3.98 persons per household. To ensure a standardised estimation, we have opted to consider an average of 4 members per family. Based on this approach, the estimated total number of victims in this case is calculated as 4 individuals.