Hindu family brutally attacked by Muslims over land dispute amidst rising attacks on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh

Case ID : 30a9742 | Location : Madaripur District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Tue, 14 July, 2026

Case ID : 30a9742

Madaripur District, Bangladesh

14 July, 2026

Hindu family brutally attacked by Muslims over land dispute amidst rising attacks on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In the Purba Swaramangal (Tekerhat) area of Rajoir Upazila in Madaripur district, Bangladesh, a Hindu family was brutally attacked by a group of Muslim men over a land dispute. The incident occurred on the night of 15 July 2026, when a group of Muslim individuals entered the residence of Gautam Bhattacharya and Mukti Bhattacharya, vandalised the property, assaulted the family, looted valuables, and issued death threats. The attack drew widespread public attention after Mukti Bhattacharya, despite suffering serious injuries, broadcast a Facebook Live video in which she appealed for help while covered in blood. According to the victim's family, a court case concerning their ancestral land had been pending for a considerable period, and a stay order issued by the High Court remained in force. Despite this, attempts were made by Muslims to forcibly occupy the disputed land, culminating in the attack on the Hindu family's home. At around 11 pm, Md. Selim Sheikh, Md. Chanowar Hossain, Md. Chobahan Dhali, Md. Jahangir Munshi, Md. Sohel Munshi, along with several others, entered the property, vandalised the house, and assaulted Mukti Bhattacharya with sharp weapons and physical force, leaving her seriously injured. During the attack, gold ornaments and cash were looted from the house, and the family was threatened with death if they failed to vacate the property within three days. While injured, Mukti Bhattacharya used her mobile phone to stream the incident live on Facebook in a desperate attempt to seek assistance. The video showed her covered in blood, visibly distressed, and pleading for help. It quickly went viral on social media, prompting widespread calls for a fair investigation and action against those responsible. Local residents stated that tensions over the disputed land had existed between the two sides for a long time. The incident raised concerns as the matter remained pending before the court despite the stay order. Following the attack, Mukti Bhattacharya was admitted to Rajoir Upazila Health Complex for treatment. The victim's family sought immediate legal action against the attackers, protection for their family, and justice for the assault, vandalism, looting, and damage caused to their property. Local residents also urged the administration to conduct a thorough investigation and take appropriate action. 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. 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 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 of - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category selected here 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 family comprising Gautam Bhattacharya and Mukti Bhattacharya was subjected to a violent attack at their residence by Muslims amidst an ongoing dispute over their ancestral land. In the prevailing environment of anti-Hindu hostility and insecurity in Bangladesh, the incident aligns with the broader pattern of violence, intimidation, and targeting experienced by vulnerable Hindu minorities, particularly in cases involving land ownership and property rights. While some may argue that the available information attributes the attack to a land dispute and does not explicitly establish a religious motive, the broader context of anti-Hindu persecution in Bangladesh remains relevant for classification. During periods marked by sustained violence, intimidation, land grabbing, and persecution targeting Hindus because of their religious identity, the Hinduphobia Tracker applies a contextual presumption that attacks on Hindu victims may be faith-targeted, even when immediate reports describe the incident as arising from property disputes or other local conflicts and do not record an explicit religious motive. In Bangladesh, land disputes involving Hindu families have frequently occurred within a wider pattern in which members of the vulnerable Hindu minority have faced coercion, intimidation, and violence while defending ancestral property. The normalisation of hostility towards Hindu minorities can therefore contribute to attacks occurring without perpetrators openly expressing religious intent. For the purpose of documenting the 2024–2026 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh and the subsequent persecution following 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 have stemmed from motivations other than religious hostility, it will be revised or removed from the hate crime database. The circumstances of this attack reflected several recurring patterns documented in attacks against Hindus in Bangladesh. The assault was not limited to a property dispute but involved the violent invasion of the family's home, the serious physical assault of a Hindu woman, the looting of valuables, and explicit threats to kill the family unless they abandoned their property. The victim's family also stated that a High Court stay order concerning the disputed land remained in force, yet the attackers proceeded with the assault despite the ongoing legal process. If the perpetrators had a genuine issue, they could have used legal remedies available to them, however they instead resorted to brutal violence. Such acts of violence and intimidation serve to pressure vulnerable Hindu families into relinquishing their homes and ancestral land, reinforcing insecurity within the wider Hindu community. This incident must also be viewed within Bangladesh's broader anti-Hindu environment, where Hindu minorities have frequently faced insecurity, intimidation, land-grabbing attempts, violence, and displacement. Property disputes involving Hindus have often been accompanied by coercion, physical attacks, or threats that exploit the minority community's vulnerable position. The brutal assault on Mukti Bhattacharya, the destruction of the family's property, the reported looting, and the death threats contributed to an atmosphere of fear extending beyond the immediate victims and reinforced the insecurity experienced by Hindu families seeking to protect their legal rights and ancestral property. Given the prevailing anti-Hindu persecution environment in Bangladesh and the broader pattern of attacks, intimidation, and land-related violence affecting vulnerable Hindu minorities, this case meets the threshold for inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker's hate crime database.