Hindu man brutally murdered in Khulna amidst ongoing persecution of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh

Case ID : 30a87a4 | Location : Khulna District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Sun, 17 May, 2026

Case ID : 30a87a4

Khulna District, Bangladesh

17 May, 2026

Hindu man brutally murdered in Khulna amidst ongoing persecution of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Ward No. 3 of Maheshwaripur Union in Koyra Upazila, Khulna district, Bangladesh, a Hindu doctor, Bhavatosh Mridha, was brutally murdered by a few unidentified assailants. The accused broke into his home by cutting through the rear wall of the house in a planned attack. According to media reports, Bhavatosh Mridha, who operated a medicine shop at Gilabari Bazaar, had long been known for providing medical treatment and assistance to poor villagers in the area. On the day of the incident, the attackers entered the house by breaching a wall before killing him inside his residence, leaving the local Hindu community shocked and terrified. Locals stated that the Hindu doctor had no known public enmity with anyone, intensifying concerns and suspicions surrounding the motive behind the murder. Police later visited the scene and launched an investigation to identify the perpetrators involved in the killing. The incident triggered outrage among local residents, who condemned the murder and demanded the immediate arrest and strict punishment of those responsible. 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 was added to the tracker under the primary category - Attack 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, cases where the attack led to the death of the Hindu victim/s would be documented. In this case, Hindu rural doctor Bhavatosh Mridha from Khulna, Bangladesh, was murdered after assailants broke into his house and carried out a planned attack inside his residence. In the prevailing environment of anti-Hindu hostility in Bangladesh, this incident aligns with the broader pattern of violence, intimidation and targeting faced by vulnerable Hindu minorities. 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 violent and targeted nature of this attack, in which assailants breached the rear wall of the victim’s house before murdering him inside his residence and fleeing the scene, mirrors multiple documented attacks on vulnerable Hindus in Bangladesh during this period. The fact that the victim was a Hindu doctor belonging to a vulnerable minority community significantly intensifies the communal fear generated by the incident. The case warrants documentation as probable religious targeting given the victim’s Hindu minority status, the planned and covert nature of the killing, and the broader pattern of anti-Hindu persecution in Bangladesh, while remaining open to any new evidence that may emerge through investigation. This murder in Khulna must be viewed within Bangladesh’s documented anti-Hindu environment, where Hindu minorities frequently face insecurity, intimidation and violence in both public and private life. The killing of a Hindu doctor inside his own residence created fear among local Hindus and reinforced concerns regarding the safety and vulnerability of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh. Violent attacks of this nature deepen psychological insecurity within the wider Hindu community and reinforce the perception that Hindus remain vulnerable targets amidst the continuing climate of anti-Hindu hostility. The victim joins numerous Hindu individuals in Bangladesh whose religious identity has increasingly become a source of vulnerability and fear. Given the prevailing anti-Hindu persecution environment in Bangladesh and the broader pattern of attacks on vulnerable Hindu minorities, this case meets the threshold for inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker’s hate crime database. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records incident dates based on when the crime occurs rather than when it is reported by the media. However, in this case, media reports have not stated the exact date on which the crime occurred. Hence, the media reporting date, 18 May 2026, is being selected as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes only.