Hindu family attacked, their house vandalised by Muslim mob in Bangladesh amidst ongoing persecution of Hindu minorities

Case ID : 30a8366 | Location : Bagerhat District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Sun, 3 May, 2026

Case ID : 30a8366

Bagerhat District, Bangladesh

3 May, 2026

Hindu family attacked, their house vandalised by Muslim mob in Bangladesh amidst ongoing persecution of Hindu minorities

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Bagerhat's Sharankhola area of Bangladesh, a Hindu family was brutally attacked by a Muslim mob of more than 100 men under the pretext of a land dispute. The attackers even vandalised the entire house of the family. According to reports, this attack occurred on 4 May 2026, in which five women from the Hindu family were injured. They were admitted to the Upazila Health Complex. The incident was reported to the Sharankhola Police Station on 5 May 2026 by the householder Rabindranath Dhali (46). The police arrested two accused in the case. They were sent to jail by the court on 5 May 2026. The injured women were Rabindranath's wife Seema Rani (35), mother Dulali Rani (70), grandmother Belka Rani (90), aunt Bimala Rani (60), and Leela Rani (65). The two arrested were Raju Sikder of Uttar Rajapur village in the upazila and Naim of Rajoir village. Rabindranath Dhali said that the accused attacked his house over a land dispute and vandalised and looted everything. They took away money, gold ornaments, land deeds, and valuable documents. His elderly mother and grandmother were seriously injured in the attack. His wife and two aunts were injured. They were rescued and admitted to the hospital. According to police and local sources, a long-standing dispute over land existed between Rabindranath Dhali and a Muslim man named Sobhan Howlader of the Ratia Rajapur area of Sharankhola upazila. The matter had been settled several times locally. Earlier, several minor disputes occurred between the two families over land. Rabindranath Dhali said, "I bought land from my maternal grandfather in 1999 and have been living here. However, in the latest survey, the land of my homestead was not recorded in my name. Neighbour Sobhan Howlader claimed 13 percent of the land in the house and tried to evict us. We filed a case in court to correct the record of the total 34 percent of the land in that khatian. But they cut down our trees at different times and tried to occupy it." He further said, "On 4 May 2026, more than a hundred people, including outsiders, came and started vandalising our house. They broke the doors, windows, and fence of the house and removed the tin roof. Before the local BNP and Jamaat leaders arrived, they destroyed everything, looted valuables, and fled. My elderly mother, who was injured in the attack, is now fighting for her life. I want a fair trial." However, Sobhan Howlader and his son Miraj Howlader denied the allegations of the attack. They claimed that the land was their purchased property and that they were being harassed with false allegations. In this regard, Sharankhola Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Shaminul Haque said that the incident mainly started from a dispute over land. A case was registered at the police station against 26 people, including 25 to 30 unidentified people. Two accused in the case had already been arrested. Police operations were underway to arrest the other accused involved in the attack. This escalation of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh has unfolded in three distinct phases: first, following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024; second, after the death of Sharif Osman Bin Hadi in December 2025; and third, in the immediate aftermath of the 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026. Following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, multiple reports documented attacks on Hindu homes, temples, and religious institutions, alongside intimidation campaigns, arson, and mob assaults targeting minority neighbourhoods. The Hinduphobia tracker has recorded 336 such incidents against the Hindu minority, underscoring the scale and persistence of anti-Hindu violence during this period. A further escalation occurred following the death of Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, a Muslim political activist and student leader known for his anti-Hindu and anti-India rhetoric. Hadi had been involved in political unrest after the fall of the Hasina government and was killed in Dhaka on 18 December 2025 during clashes. In the aftermath of his death, Hindu communities were blamed and subsequently targeted in retaliatory violence. Hindu homes were selectively set ablaze in multiple localities, forcing families to flee and leaving many displaced. The attacks appeared patterned rather than sporadic, with Muslim mobs focusing on Hindu neighbourhoods, properties, and religious symbols. Among the victims was Dipu Chandra Das, who was lynched to death and his body was set ablaze by a Muslim mob over false blasphemy allegations. The Hinduphobia tracker documented 51 incidents of anti-Hindu violence in the period following Hadi’s death alone. Such incidents underscore the vulnerability of the Hindu minority amid rising communal hostility and the weaponisation of religious accusations. Reports further indicated that posters and written materials calling for the extermination of Hindus were displayed in public spaces, signalling an alarming normalisation of genocidal rhetoric. When combined with acts of arson, vandalism, assault, and targeted intimidation, these developments suggest a coordinated environment of hostility aimed at terrorising the Hindu community and reinforcing majoritarian dominance. The third phase of violence was unleashed after the 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026. Within days of the announcement of results, Hindu families in districts such as Noakhali, Rangpur, Nilphamari, Sylhet, Thakurgaon, and Dinajpur reported coordinated attacks involving arson, looting, assault, and vandalism of temples and homes. In several instances, Hindu homes were selectively targeted, looted, and families were threatened with displacement.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is added to the tracker under the primary category- Attack not resulting in death. The subcategory 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. In this case, a Hindu family in Bagerhat's Sharankhola area of Bangladesh faced brutal mob violence by 100 Muslim men under the pretext of a land dispute. In the prevailing environment of anti‑Hindu hostility in Bangladesh, this incident aligns with the wider pattern of violence affecting Hindus. While some may argue that the case details do not explicitly state a religious motive, the broader context of anti‑Hindu persecution in Bangladesh remains relevant for classification. During periods of sustained violence against Hindus based on religious identity, the Hinduphobia Tracker applies a contextual presumption that attacks on Hindu victims are likely faith‑targeted, even when the immediate report does not record a specific religious marker. In such periods, the normalisation of religious hostility and the dehumanisation of minorities can contribute to crimes against them without perpetrators openly stating a motive. For the purpose of documenting the 2024 to 2026 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh and the subsequent persecution after the political exile of Sheikh Hasina, the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, and the 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026, the Hinduphobia Tracker records such incidents as likely religiously motivated at the point of entry. If any case is later established through credible investigation or court findings to stem from motivations other than religious hostility, it will be revised or removed from the hate crime database. The savagery of this attack, leaving 90-year-old Belka Rani and 70-year-old Dulali Rani fighting for life while looting sacred family documents, mirrors dozens of reported anti-Hindu pogroms during this period, supporting contextual classification as faith-driven violence absent contradictory evidence. The case warrants documentation as probable religious targeting, given the victims' Hindu minority status, the disproportionate mob response to a settled land matter, and Bangladesh's persecution pattern, while remaining open to new evidence. This Sharankhola assault must be viewed within Bangladesh's documented anti-Hindu ecosystem, where land disputes frequently serve as mere flimsy pretexts for communal land grabs against vulnerable Hindu families. The premeditated involvement of BNP-Jamaat leaders and outsider muscle power demonstrates calculated religious intimidation, making Hindu homesteads precarious targets. Rabindranath Dhali's family joins countless Hindu households facing existential threats where their religious identity becomes a liability. Given Bangladesh's sustained anti-Hindu persecution environment, this case meets all thresholds for inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker's hate crime database.