Case Summary

In Shahpur village, Nabinagar, Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh, an 18-year-old married Hindu woman was abducted, held captive and raped for three days by a Muslim man. The accused was identified as 24-year-old Emon Mia, son of Rafiqul Islam, also known as Drazer Rafiq, a resident of Shahpur village under Ratanpur Union. Following her rescue, the victim filed a case of abduction and rape against the accused at Nabinagar Police Station. According to media reports, the victim's husband lived abroad, and the couple had a two-year-old daughter. The victim went missing after leaving for a nearby market on the morning of 8 July 2026. Following her disappearance, her father lodged a General Diary at Nabinagar Police Station. Three days later, acting on a tip-off, the victim's family located and rescued her from the fourth floor of a building adjacent to the Cooperative Market in Nabinagar Sadar. Following her rescue, she filed a complaint against the accused. In her complaint, the victim stated that while returning to Shahpur on 8 July, Emon Mia forcibly took her into a CNG-powered auto-rickshaw, after which she was rendered unconscious. She stated that she regained consciousness on the fourth floor of a building in Nabinagar Sadar, where she was held captive and raped repeatedly over the following three days. She further stated that although she was provided with food during her confinement, she consumed only water. The victim subsequently filed a case of abduction and rape at Nabinagar Police Station on the night of 11 July 2026. The victim's family also stated that they had been subjected to threats and various forms of pressure by individuals associated with the accused in an attempt to prevent them from pursuing the case through legal channels. According to the family, the threats had left them living in fear and insecurity. Meanwhile, Ratanpur Union Parishad Chairman Golam Mostafa, also known as VP Maruf, stated in a Facebook post that whether the incident involved abduction and rape or other circumstances should be determined through an impartial investigation. Nabinagar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Morshedul Alam Chowdhury stated that the police were investigating the matter seriously and that appropriate legal action would be taken if the investigation substantiated the victim's complaint. 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 18th 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. 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. Combined with acts of arson, vandalism, assault, and 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 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.

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Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is being 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, an 18-year-old married Hindu woman from Shahpur village in Nabinagar, Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh, was abducted, held captive for three days and repeatedly raped by a Muslim man, identified as Emon Mia. In the prevailing environment of anti-Hindu hostility in Bangladesh, this incident aligned with the wider pattern of violence and targeting faced by vulnerable Hindu minorities, particularly Hindu women. 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 abduction, prolonged unlawful confinement and repeated sexual assault of the Hindu victim mirrored multiple documented attacks on vulnerable Hindus in Bangladesh during this period. The case warranted documentation as probable religious targeting given the victim's Hindu minority status, the prolonged nature of the abuse, and the broader pattern of anti-Hindu persecution in Bangladesh, while remaining open to any new evidence that might emerge through the investigation. This assault in Nabinagar must be viewed within Bangladesh's documented anti-Hindu environment, where vulnerable Hindu families, particularly women and girls, frequently face intimidation, insecurity and violence while living with limited social protection. The victim's family also stated that they had been threatened and pressured by individuals associated with the accused in an attempt to prevent them from pursuing legal action, further contributing to the climate of fear surrounding the incident. The victim's family joined countless Hindu families in Bangladesh whose religious identity had increasingly become a source of vulnerability amidst the continuing climate of anti-Hindu hostility. Given the prevailing anti-Hindu persecution environment in Bangladesh and the broader pattern of attacks on vulnerable Hindu minorities, this case met the threshold for inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker's hate crime database.