Hindu man missing in Bangladesh for 13 days as family appeals for public help

Case ID : 30a883b | Location : Shariatpur District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Tue, 5 May, 2026

Case ID : 30a883b

Shariatpur District, Bangladesh

5 May, 2026

Hindu man missing in Bangladesh for 13 days as family appeals for public help

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

A 32-year-old Hindu man named Swapan Shil, son of Sri Ganesh Chandra Shil and Srimati Minati Shil, a resident of the Kushia (Paglaramora) area, Bahir locality, Naria Upazila, Shariatpur district, Bangladesh, has been missing since 6 May 2026. Despite 13 days having passed, no trace of him has been found, and his family has been spending days in extreme anxiety and distress. As per the details, Swapan Shil left his home on 6 May 2026 and has not returned. Since that day, his mobile phone has been found switched off. Relatives and acquaintances searched various possible locations but found no trace of him. Swapan Shil has a six-year-old daughter who repeatedly asks for her father when he in absent, causing further distress to the family. The case was reported through Satya Sanatan, a Hindu organisation, which appealed for public assistance in locating him. Local sources indicated that Swapan Shil may have left home due to a family dispute; no confirmed information was available at the time of publication. The family requested that anyone with information about Swapan Shil contact them immediately. No police complaint or official missing-persons report was confirmed in the source, beyond the family's appeal for public assistance. This incident is part of an ongoing pattern of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, where the community has repeatedly faced persecution and disruptions to their religious festivals and gatherings. Such attacks on Hindu minorities have become increasingly frequent and intensified since August 2024. 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 ?

The primary category for this case is "Attack not resulting in death". The sub-category for this case is "Attacked for Hindu identity". The disappearance of Swapan Shil from Naria Upazila, Shariatpur district, Bangladesh on 6 May 2026 cannot be examined without reference to the country and period in which it occurred. Bangladesh is currently experiencing a documented cycle of anti-Hindu persecution that the Hinduphobia Tracker has recorded across multiple cases spanning 2024 to 2026. Hindu men have been killed, Hindu women have been assaulted, Hindu homes have been attacked, and Hindu families have been driven from their properties across the country during this period. The disappearance of a Hindu man whose mobile phone went silent on the day he left home and who has not been found after 13 days of searching occurs within this documented context of sustained anti-Hindu hostility. The disappearance of Swapan Shil from Naria Upazila, Shariatpur district, Bangladesh on 6 May 2026 cannot be examined without reference to the country and period in which it occurred. Bangladesh is currently experiencing a documented cycle of anti-Hindu persecution that the Hinduphobia Tracker has recorded across multiple cases spanning 2024 to 2026. Hindu men have been killed, Hindu women have been assaulted, Hindu homes have been attacked, and Hindu families have been driven from their properties across the country during this period. The disappearance of a Hindu man whose mobile phone went silent on the day he left home and who has not been found after 13 days of searching occurs within this documented context of sustained anti-Hindu hostility. The circumstances of Swapan Shil's disappearance carry features that warrant serious concern. He left home on 6 May 2026 and his mobile phone was switched off from that point. A switched off mobile phone in the context of a disappearance in Bangladesh is a documented indicator of a forced disappearance rather than a voluntary one, as individuals who leave home voluntarily for personal reasons typically remain reachable by family. The failure to find any trace of him despite searches at various possible locations by relatives and acquaintances over 13 days further indicates that his whereabouts were being actively concealed rather than that he had simply chosen to be absent. The local source suggestion that a family dispute may have caused his departure does not resolve the concern. Family disputes in Hindu households in Bangladesh have in documented cases been exploited by those seeking to remove Hindu men from their communities, with the family dispute framing used to discourage immediate police involvement and delay the search. The absence of confirmed information about what happened to Swapan Shil, combined with his switched off mobile and 13 days of fruitless searching, is more consistent with a forced disappearance than with a voluntary departure following a domestic disagreement. The Hinduphobia Tracker applies a contextual presumption in cases of this period. During the documented ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh, the disappearance of Hindu individuals in Muslim majority localities warrants documentation as potentially religiously motivated, absent contrary evidence. This case is recorded as a potentially religiously motivated disappearance at the point of entry. If further information establishes that Swapan Shil's disappearance was voluntary or stemmed from non-religious motivations, this case will be revised or removed from the database accordingly.