Hindu man tortured and murdered in police custody after being falsely arrested in Bangladesh

Case ID : 30a87a3 | Location : Chittagong District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Sun, 26 April, 2026

Case ID : 30a87a3

Chittagong District, Bangladesh

26 April, 2026

Hindu man tortured and murdered in police custody after being falsely arrested in Bangladesh

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Chattogram, Bangladesh, a 48-year-old Hindu man named Debashish Chowdhury died in police custody 21 days after he was falsely arrested in connection with a case of political violence. It was alleged that the victim, Debashish Chowdhury, had participated in the movement supporting the eight-point demands raised by Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das regarding the safety and protection of Hindus in Bangladesh. Debashish, who worked as an accountant at an ashram in the Kotwali area, was arrested from his residence on the night of 27 April 2026 by men in plain clothes who informed the family that a warrant had been issued against him in the sabotage case registered at Sadarghat Police Station on 1 September 2024. Following his arrest, he was produced before the court and remanded to jail custody. The prison authorities claimed that Debashish, who was housed in the Sangu Ward of Chittagong Central Jail, collapsed after suffering chest pain while speaking with others on the morning of 19 May 2026. He was first taken to the jail hospital and later shifted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. After the post-mortem examination, his body was handed over to the family on 20 May 2026. Family members and local residents stated that there were multiple injury marks on his body, including severe bruises on his back, indicating that he was subjected to torture while in custody. Relatives stated that Debashish Chowdhury was not politically active and had no association with any political party. Relatives described the death as a planned custodial killing and demanded an impartial investigation and punishment for those responsible. They further revealed that he was involved in a long-running property dispute with an influential local woman, and that during the political unrest, the opposing side used its influence to have him falsely implicated in the sabotage case and imprisoned. The family stated that he was deliberately killed inside the jail and demanded a fair and impartial investigation along with strict punishment for those responsible. The custodial death triggered anger and concern among local residents and sections of civil society in Chattogram, particularly amid growing fears among Bangladeshi Hindus over targeted persecution and politically motivated arrests. At the time of reporting, no official explanation regarding the circumstances of Debashish Chowdhury’s death had been issued by Chattogram jail authorities or law enforcement officials. This is not an isolated incident, but part of a pattern of targeting of Hindus in Bangladesh. 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 has been added to the tracker under the primary category - Attack resulting in death. Within this, the subcategory selected for this case 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 the 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, cases where the attack led to the death of the Hindu victim/s would be documented. In this case, a Hindu man named Debashish Chowdhury was murdered in jail custody in Chattogram, Bangladesh, 21 days after being falsely arrested in connection with a sabotage and vandalism case linked to the August 2024 unrest. Debashish, who worked as an accountant at a Hindu ashram and was known to be the primary caretaker of his elderly parents and young children, was taken from his residence by police and later remanded to prison custody. His family later received his body from Chittagong Medical College Hospital after authorities informed them that he had collapsed in jail following chest pain. Family members stated that there were multiple injury marks and severe bruises on his body, particularly on his back, indicating custodial torture prior to his death. In the prevailing climate of anti-Hindu hostility and persecution in Bangladesh, the custodial death of a Hindu man under such circumstances aligns with the broader pattern of intimidation, criminalisation, and violence directed at Hindus in the country. While some may argue that the case details did 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 hostility toward Hindus and the dehumanisation of minorities contribute to violence against them, even where perpetrators or authorities avoid openly articulating a religious motive. For the purpose of documenting the 2024 to 2026 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh and the subsequent persecution following 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 have stemmed from motivations other than religious hostility, it will be revised or removed from the hate crime database. In this case, the circumstances surrounding the arrest and death of Debashish Chowdhury reinforced the contextual classification of likely religious targeting. According to his family, Debashish had no involvement in political activities and was implicated in the sabotage case amid a local land dispute. The use of politically charged charges against a Hindu man during a period of intensified repression and violence against Hindus reflected a wider pattern in Bangladesh where Hindu individuals were vulnerable to false implication, arbitrary detention, and institutional abuse. The custodial nature of the death, the visible injuries on the victim’s body, and the absence of a transparent explanation from authorities deepened concerns regarding targeted mistreatment of a Hindu detainee within state custody. The death also occurred amidst escalating anti-Hindu violence following the 13th National Parliamentary Election and the political upheaval that followed the exile of Sheikh Hasina, during which Hindu homes, temples, businesses, and individuals faced widespread attacks, intimidation, arrests, and displacement across Bangladesh. Against this backdrop, the custodial death of Debashish Chowdhury cannot be viewed in isolation. The incident contributed to a wider climate of fear among Hindus, particularly those associated with religious institutions or public Hindu activism, where detention itself became a source of existential danger. Given the broader environment of sustained anti-Hindu persecution in Bangladesh, the suspicious custodial death of Debashish Chowdhury meets the threshold for inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker’s hate crime database as a likely case of faith-targeted persecution, pending any future findings that conclusively establish an alternative motive.