12-year-old minor Hindu girl missing amidst ongoing persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh

Case ID : 30a8c9a | Location : Faridpur District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Sun, 31 May, 2026

Case ID : 30a8c9a

Faridpur District, Bangladesh

31 May, 2026

12-year-old minor Hindu girl missing amidst ongoing persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

A 12‑year‑old Hindu girl named Nirupama Shikdar went missing from the Purba Aliyabad area of Faridpur Sadar Upazila. A General Diary (GD) was filed at Faridpur Kotwali Police Station in connection with the incident. Despite four days having passed, no trace of her was found, and her family spent days in extreme anxiety and distress. According to the complaint, on 1 June, around 8 AM, Nirupama left her home without informing anyone and did not return. Family members searched for her at relatives’ homes and several other possible locations, but found no trace of her. Nirupama was the only daughter of Nirmal Shikdar and Smriti Shikdar of the Purba Aliyabad area. She did not use a mobile phone. The GD (General Diary complaint) was filed on behalf of her family, GD No. 74, dated 1 June 2026. The family appealed to the general public for assistance if anyone had information about Nirupama Shikdar’s whereabouts, and asked them to contact her mother, Smriti Shikdar, at 01829722274. Police stated that necessary legal steps were being taken to trace the missing girl, and the search operation was ongoing. This incident formed part of an ongoing pattern of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, where the community 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. The escalation of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh 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 in 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 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 underscored 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 suggested 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 in 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". 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 disappearance of Nirupama Shikdar from Purba Aliyabad, Faridpur Sadar Upazila, Bangladesh, on 1 June 2026 could not be examined without reference to the country and period in which it occurred. Bangladesh was experiencing a documented cycle of anti‑Hindu persecution that the Hinduphobia Tracker recorded across multiple cases spanning 2024 to 2026. Hindu men were killed, Hindu women were assaulted, Hindu homes were attacked, and Hindu families were driven from their properties across the country during this period. The disappearance of a 12‑year‑old Hindu girl who left home without a word and was not found occurred within this documented context of sustained anti‑Hindu hostility. 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 drive 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 proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be driven by motivations other than religious hostility, it will be removed from the hate crime database post facto.