Minor Hindu boy goes missing in Thakurgaon amidst ongoing persecution of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh

Case ID : 30a8f96 | Location : Thakurgaon District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Wed, 10 June, 2026

Case ID : 30a8f96

Thakurgaon District, Bangladesh

10 June, 2026

Minor Hindu boy goes missing in Thakurgaon amidst ongoing persecution of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Pirganj Upazila of Thakurgaon district, a minor Hindu student of Class 7 named Narayan Roy went missing on the afternoon of 11 June 2026. The missing teenager, aged around 12 to 13 years, was a student of Pirganj Central School. The victim was a resident of Banbari village under Pirganj Police Station in Thakurgaon district. According to his family members, Narayan Roy had left home around noon for private tuition. However, he did not return at the expected time. After his disappearance, his relatives searched for him in multiple nearby locations, but no trace of him was found. His sudden disappearance caused deep anxiety and distress within the family. Appealing for public assistance, the family requested local residents to come forward with any information. They shared their contact numbers and urged that if anyone had seen Narayan Roy or had any knowledge of his whereabouts, they should immediately contact them. The family of Narayan Roy also appealed to the wider public to circulate the information widely in order to assist in locating the missing child. 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 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 minor student named Narayan Roy went missing in Thakurgaon district of Bangladesh. In the prevailing environment of vulnerability faced by Hindu minorities in Bangladesh, the incident aligns with the broader pattern of insecurity and concern experienced by Hindu families in Bangladesh. While some may argue that the available details point towards a religious motive behind the crime, the broader context of anti-Hindu hostility, persecution, and insecurity in Bangladesh remains relevant for classification. During periods marked by sustained violence, intimidation, and targeting of Hindus based on their religious identity, the Hinduphobia Tracker applies a contextual presumption that attacks on Hindu victims may be faith-targeted, even when immediate reports attribute the crime to other disputes and do not record an explicit religious motive. In such circumstances, the vulnerability of Hindu communities and the normalisation of hostility towards religious minorities can contribute to attacks occurring without perpetrators openly expressing religious intent. 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 disappearance of the Hindu child generated concern among local Hindus because the victim belonged to a vulnerable religious minority community. The sudden disappearance of a minor child reinforced fear and anxiety among family members and heightened concerns regarding the safety of Hindus in the locality. This incident must also be viewed within Bangladesh’s broader environment, where Hindu minorities often face insecurity and uncertainty. Even in cases where no cause is immediately known, missing incidents involving Hindu minors are treated with heightened sensitivity due to the wider context of vulnerability affecting minority communities. Given the prevailing anti-Hindu persecution environment in Bangladesh and the continuing pattern of violence affecting vulnerable Hindu minorities, this case meets the threshold for inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker's hate crime database.